The 30th of January
by Smiju
Summary: JackOC, Before the movie, Jack befriends, defends and falls for a rich girl with problems he can relate to. But can he ever turn her into a Mercer? ...Rating for possible later chapters activities and quite a bit of cursing...at least for me...
1. A Gig and a Girl

**Definately don't own any part of the Four Brothers stuff (otherwise Jack wouldn'ta died...)... I do own the new characters and the plot surrounding them, though I steal plot points from the movie...**

**I warn you now that I make a lot of assumptions about things in this fan fic. I did absolutely no research into this story, I've only watched it a couple of time and these are the spewings that erupted afterward**

52 miles. The farthest he'd been from Evelyn since she'd taken him in. Amazingly enough, that had been only 10 years before. At times it seemed like he'd always been with her, like they'd always been family.

"Real family," she'd told him all those years ago, "are the people who care for you, the people who protect you, and the people that don't have to 'prove' that they love you in order for you to know it."

That had been back when he was foolish enough to think his blood relatives had given him what he deserved. Now, leaning against the van the band used to lug around their equipment, he took a drag from his cigarette and smiled. Se still did some pretty stupid shit, but it was more 'adult' shit now. Drinking, smoking…etc…

Evelyn worried about him all the time, it was obvious in the way she looked at him when he came through the door (usually early in the morning). He was lucky he'd been able to keep the illegal stuff down to a minimum, or she'd have ripped him to shreds with a glare. Only Evelyn could invoke fear with look, and half the time she probably didn't even realize she was doing it.

A door opened in the alleyway beside the van. Stomping his cigarette Jack heard Alex cry out "Hey Callie, what up my biotch."

All the other band members choked back laughs at the loser comment. Someday he would learn how to speak correctly, but it definitely wasn't going to be soon.

The girl he'd addressed didn't seem all that impressed with his words, content to merely shake her head at him. Everyone was given a quick introduction to her, and she managed to smile at them all, but when Alex threw his arm around her Jack thought he saw her flinch. But his band mate began speaking so he brushed off the curiosity that had sprung up from the tiny movement.

"Callie is really good at convincing her pops to let guys like us drink…"

The girl rolled her eyes and pulled away to prop open the door for them.

The first patrons, and a few groupies, had showed up by the time the guys were set up. Alex took some bottles of beer for the group, but Callie made sure to warn "Just behave yourselves, alright?"

Jack had to smile at that comment. The likelihood of their behaving, alcohol or no, was not good. Alex saw his band mate's amusement as he handed over a bottle and explained "She only lets us drink for free until we act up."

After taking a sip of his beer Jack gave a quick snort of a laugh. "Smart girl."

"Yeah well, she'll get her ass kicked if she's not careful about it like that."

Pretending to ignore the statement the rocker drank again and then finished tuning his cheap-ass guitar.

Their set went well. The groupies screamed enough to make up for the annoyed middle-aged men not fond of their music. All in all an average start to the night.

When they finished Callie provided them with another round of beers and joined them at a table. Alex immediately hefted his feet to a second chair. Leaning back he put his arm around the only girl at the table that was obviously not interested in having any kind of relationship with him. She tensed and kept her back straight against the chair.

Attempting to ignore the dumb whores fawning over them all, Jack leaned forward to interrupt whatever stupid sentence Alex happened to be speaking. "Hey Alex, you ever think that maybe she doesn't want you hanging all over her?"

Shocked, the oblivious boy smirked and asked, "What's the matter Jack-o, you jealous?"

"Yeah, I'm so jealous that she doesn't want to be touched by you. That's always how I want a girl to feel about me."

Callie was trying really hard not to laugh, but even with her lips pressed together her big smile was clear. Alex got all flustered and turned his attention to a bimbo who'd said something along the lines of "I won't mind if you want touch _me_, Alex" Friggen groupies. Like that loser really needed an ego boost. Jack rolled his eyes and glanced over at their booze-providing friend. She smiled shyly up at him and mouthed "Thank you."

He shrugged, still trying to stop the pathetic women from fawning. Luckily, they had for the most part given up on him, realizing he was too distracted to give them the attention they desired. But as he was released someone called to Callie.

She immediately jumped out of her chair, leaving her drink behind. The man behind the counter beckoned her to take his place as he stepped out to play a game of billiards. He laid his hands on the girls shoulders though she instinctively shrugged away.

Jack then realized he'd curled his fingers into a fist. Though it was rare now, he still had that flinching reaction to some surprise touches. And yet seeing it from someone else made him even more defensive.

The place really wasn't all that busy now, and Callie looked kind of bored just chilling behind the bar. Jack grabbed her abandoned beer and wandered over to join her.

"You forgot something," he joked.

"You sure I didn't leave it there so you could bring it over to me?" she smiled before downing a chug. "You want anything else?"

"You got any Jack?"

She chuckled, obviously remembering his name and asked "Is that a request or the beginning of an offer?"

Jack smirked and shook her head at what she was implying. "At the moment it's just a request."

She blushed a little at the fact he had not downright denied the other part of her inquiry. But she pulled the bottle from the wall and asked, "How do you want it?"

"Well I was hoping you'd join me, so, your choice." Damn, when had he become such a shameless flirt?

"You're starting off with a shot then, 'cause I'm not a big fan of Jack…the drink" she made sure to clear up. He was smirking again as he picked up his little glass. She followed suit and they threw back the heavier alcohol. She instantly refilled his glass, but pushed her own aside in favor of her beer. She sat on a stool hidden behind the bar and leaned on her elbows. Without thinking she took a moment to check on the billiard tables. The man she'd relieved of duty seemed fairly happy, he must have been doing alright.

"He your dad?" Jack asked. She simply nodded. So much for that conversation starter, on to the next choice. "So, Alex seems pretty friendly with you…"

She gave a short laugh and looked bashfully at the countertop. "His brother's band used to play here. He'd come and brag about being the brother of a drummer and all that. I was a stupid girl and took his bragging to mean something."

"And now he won't leave you alone."

"I think you fixed that problem though."

"For now," Jack shrugged.

"No, I think you hurt his pride enough that he wont risk going for it again."

Just then Alex popped up beside Jack, giggling drunkenly, and asked "Whatcha talkin' 'bout?"

"You."

Jack took his shot and smiled. He and Callie had said the exact same thing just then. Kind of scary considering they'd only known each other for a few hours.

"Yeah, fuck you both," the drummer whined. "Hey Jack-o we gotta pack up. We gotta get Joe home.

"So go pack," Jack brushed off the suggestion. "I'll grab my guitar on the way out."

"You're such a lazy bastard," Alex snarled as he stalked away.

Callie poured Jack another shot before putting the bottle away. Then she drew on the reserves of courage she'd held back, and started a conversation with a near stranger. "So, Alex said all you new guys were from different places. Where're you from?"

Jack explained that when the band wasn't traveling he lived with his mom. When she heard the name of the street she nearly shot beer out her nose. "What?" he asked. "You been there?"

"I go to school 10 minutes from there!"

"Where, Ganner's?"

She nodded.

"How old are you?"

Chuckling at his caution she said, "I'll be 18 in April, and I graduate in June."

"You're 18, go to a rich kid's school and work at a bar…I have to say that is absolutely not what I expected."

"Yeah, well…"

"Jack!" Alex was yelling from across the room. They needed help moving the drum set. Sighing, Jack apologized to Callie. She just shrugged. Her father was kicking people out anyway.


	2. Home Run

**Still don't own anything except the new characters and the plot I aranged around them...**

More than a week later Jack lay on the couch at home flipping a napkin between his fingers. The napkin was really a note that had been stuffed in his guitar case. He'd read it until he had it memorized.

"Jack

Give me a reason to skip class someday, huh? ;)

675-453-6099

**_Cal_**"

Apparently she preferred Cal to Callie. Not that he blamed her. She was probably trying to rid herself of all things Alex, including the nickname.

He hadn't called her. He wasn't sure he should. She was kind of a good kid and, well, he wasn't.

Still, she'd been interesting to talk to. She had a decent sense of humor when she forgot about being shy (not that he was any less shy).

But he was still 3 years older. Not that that was a big deal. Hadn't they been told in school that girls matured a few years faster than boys? But it still seemed weird that she wasn't even considered an adult yet. She was still in high school for God's sake.

What the fuck, why was he being such a "faerie" (as Bobby would have said). Standing up he snatched his jacket from the chair on the porch and started walking.

Cal zoned out as she stood in the outfield. Softball was so boring with these uncompetitive girly girls. Not one girl hit the ball for the other team. Almost as soon as they'd reached their spots they were headed back in to bat. As they did, another girl came up beside her and whispered "The guy on the bleachers is staring at you."

"What?" Utter disbelief creased her brows before she caught a glimpse of who her classmate was talking about. Shocked, but pleased, she smiled hopefully. She definitely her wild and crazy school-self this time. She had to keep his attention.

Her turn to bat came soon enough. Looking back at her teammates she nodded and motioned that she was planning on a homer. Some cheered, some laughed, but Jack was watching intently and that's what she was going for.

First pitch, strike. She took a breath. She was going to hit the ball. It was going to sail over the fence to the bleachers on the other side, and she was going to have her chance to flirt with the cute rocker guy.

Second pitch, she connected. She watched for a second, her only thought being "Holy shit!" The girls behind her were hugging her and shoving her to run. The ball went a little to the right of the intended target. Jack leaned over and caught it with one hand. Still in shock she smiled and began flamboyantly skipping past bases. She stopped to let him toss it back over the fence for her to carry back to home.

Two batters later she was in the outfield again. But she switched spots with a girl near the fence that protected the bleachers. Keeping an eye on the unskilled girl at bat Cal gripped the links of the fence, stepped up and balanced herself to face her invited stalker.

"You enjoying watching all us little girls run around in our short skirts?"

Taking a drag off his cigarette Jack nodded, but joked, "It'd be better without those stupid shorts underneath 'em."

"Yeah, it'd probably be more comfortable that way too."

He snorted out smoke as he laughed, and flicked the tip of his cancer stick away. "Aren't you supposed to be playing."

Cal looked over her shoulder, then shrugged. "Nah, she won't hit it very far, especially this direction." Then she turned back to him and lifted her chin. "Me on the other hand…"

Again smoke came out with a chuckle. "Keep it up, I might have to start calling you Ripkin."

She gave a short laugh as she hopped off the fence. "Someone knows their sports figures."

"I watched a lot of TV as a kid," he claimed. She nodded, not doubting it a bit.

Suddenly a whistle blew. Her PE class was over, time for the next thing on her schedule. Turning back to Jack one more time she asked, "You still got my number?" He nodded as someone called her name. She had to hurry. "I'm starving, and the food here's shit. Find someplace to eat then give me a call, I'll meet you there."

"I hope you're paying," he said as he climbed off the bleachers.

"Of course," she smiled, backing away, "I am a rich kid after all."

As a senior, Cal didn't have that many required classes left to take. As a result, half of her day was filled with study halls, like the one right after PE that she always used for showering. However, just as she was about to step in she heard her phone ring. Not even looking she flipped it open.

"That was fast," she pointed out.

"Yeah, well, I'm bored."

She laughed. "So where are we eating?"

"The sandwich place down the road."

"Good choice, love that place."

"Do I get a pat on the back for that?"

Another laugh. "You might. Hey give me a few minutes to grab a shower and I'll be there."

"Yes, by all means, wash off the stench of girl-sweat."

"Thanks for your permission, I feel better about it now."

"Glad I could help. Now hurry up, the smell of this place is making me hungry." He didn't wait for a reply before hanging up.

Cal couldn't wipe the smile off her face. This day was going to kick ass!


	3. Sandwiches and a Spill

**Still don't own anything except the stuff I've changed to fit around the characters I added, and said characters...**

**(I wanna appologize for the stupidity of the title of this chapter, I'm tired and out of creative ideas for the night...if I think of a better one I'll change it... )**

What the fuck was he thinking? He was eating lunch with a rich girl… an _underage_ rich girl. There had to be something wrong with him. She was way too good for him. There was no reason he should be here. She was probably playing him, but no, trash that thought, she was the one with the money.

He leaned on a wall and waited for her face to appear in the glass door. Would she still be in her school uniform? God, could they make those things any more provocative. Well, they were provocative on the right girl…. There had been a few fat girls… Jack shuddered at the memory.

Cal, on the other hand…Damn did she have killer legs. She'd been wearing a hoody on the field, so the average physique so flattered by her wife-beater the other night at the bar was well hidden. But he knew it was there, and it almost bothered him that he couldn't see the top and bottom flattered at the same time.

No, stop. He couldn't be thinking things like that, at least not for another four months. No wait, that wasn't any better thinking. Gah! What the hell was wrong with him?

Suddenly there she was, though it took him a second to recognize her with her hair down. Amazingly it fell a good inch below the bottom of her shoulders. She wore the same hoody, but she was in jeans now. She motioned him into the waiting line. He stood behind her and for a while studied her ass, before he realized what he was doing and forced himself to focus on his sandwich choice. And yet somehow while he was debating whether or not he wanted lettuce he caught a glimpse of her again and the strangest thought slipped through his mind. 'So she's normal after all.'

What the fuck! Where had that come from? She definitely was not normal. Normal girls did not go to delis for lunch with some stranger when they should have been in school!

Food, food was the answer to this problem. He needed food to shut his mind up.

She pulled a $20 out of her pocket when they reached the register and got 2 back for their meals. He kinda felt bad about making her spend money on him, but she **had** offered. So he pointed out a booth near the back of the place and sat across from her. As soon as she set her stuff down she was into her sandwich. Apparently the starving part hadn't been just an excuse. She slowed down a little after a few bites. Taking a gulp from her soda she suddenly decided it was too quiet at the table.

"So, Jack, I know absolutely nothing about you."

"What do you wanna know," he was kind of cautious about the question.

"A last name for starters."

"You first."

"Tanning."

"Mercer." Almost immediately she recognized the name. He'd wondered about that. He took another bite of his sandwich with a smile. She was putting facts together, a shocked look on her face.

"Wait, so…Mercer… as in the brother they tell stories about?"

"Yeah," he put his sandwich down, "those would be my brothers."

She stared at him in disbelief. He wiped his mouth and took a drink without saying anything else.

"I have no idea what to say." She finally admitted.

"What stories do they tell?"

Her mouth opened, but then closed again as she thought of where to start. She'd probably heard hundreds of Mercer stories, none of them non-violent.

After a long pause Jack nodded. "Let me guess. Lots about drugs and money, and even more about violence."

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."

"Wont Ma be proud to know how far their rep has spread." He laughed to himself. "So which one of them is the most popular?" He pretty much knew the answer, but wanted to hear it anyway.

"Bobby," she said as munched on a fallen piece of lettuce, "by far."

"There's a shocker." Why wouldn't the most violent one be the best topic? "So what about you, any siblings?"

She shook her head. "No. My dad tried, but my mom finally ran off when I was 7."

Jack noticed her becoming nearly emotionless while talking. Strangely enough he knew exactly how she felt anyway. Ok, change of topic, this was getting depressing fast.

Just then he spotted someone he'd never expected to see here. "Shit."

Cal turned to look where he was looking, then looked back for an explanation.

"Jerry," he said, slouching a little to hide his tall frame from view.

"You wanna make a break for it?" the girl asked. "I could, ya know, get up at the same time and go the other direction, try to distract him."

"Yeah that would work, except for the fact that I'm a foot taller than you."

Shrugging of his sarcasm she asked "Any better ideas?"

No. He wasn't even sure why he was making such a big deal out of this though. So what if his brother saw him with a girl… Then again, what if his big brother saw him with _this_ girl? Even Jerry wasn't able to keep that kind of stuff quiet for long. (Especially since little brother Jack had been the first one to let news of Camille slip.) "Alright."

She looked up from her sandwich, totally caught of guard. Quickly she swallowed and said "Then get your ass out the back door before he turns the corner looking for a seat!"

He looked over his shoulder and laughed as he turned back. "Fire door."

"It'll give 'em something else to think about."

"It's also illegal."

"So's the pot I can faintly smell wafting around here… hmm wonder where that's from." She rolled her eyes and sighed as she stood up. "Have it your way, ya pussy."

She piled all their garbage on the small tray she'd used, then placed her bottle of soda in front of Jack. "Hold on to that will ya?" She started to turn around, but thought of one more thing to say. "You're gonna owe me big, you know that right?"

Almost as soon as he'd raised his eyebrows she'd rounded the corner. He heard someone exclaim "Oh my!" and the contents of the tray went flying.

Cal was scrambling over the filthy floor to gather the garbage. Jerry was trying to help her. Jack got up and nonchalantly walked past the commotion out the front door.


	4. Getting Away

**Still don't own anything but my added characters and their plots...**

**(This is where the story starts to get really fun...)**

Two minutes later his new friend was using her elbow to open the same door as she continued brushing the dirt off of herself. Jack was shaking his head as he handed back her soda. "Little dramatic, don't ya think?"

"Shut up you," she said with a grin, wiping away the soda she'd just spilled down her chin. Then she pointed at him. "It worked didn't it?"

"Yeah it worked," he admitted. He shoved his hands in his pockets and shivered a little. "So what do we do now?" Funny, a 20 year old asking that of a minor.

"I'm headed to the school parking lot. You're welcome to follow me if you're really that bored."

Hmm… follow around a trouble making rich girl, or go home and watch tv for the rest of the afternoon…Why was that even a question… and why did Jack feel like he was probably picking the wrong option?

He started walking after her. "You said parking lot. I assume that means you have a car?"

"I have a motorized rust bucket that thinks it's still an '89 Cavalier Wagon." She noticed his disbelief. "Just 'cause I'm a rich kid doesn't mean I'm spoiled."

"Hey at least you have a car," he admitted.

He could see her trying to hide a smile as she finished off her soda. She was fishing in the pocket of her sweatshirt and finally pulled out the keys. She unlocked the driver's side door and reached in for her jacket, leaving the empty bottle on the floor. Coaxing the jacket over her hoody she asked "Any specific time you need to be home by."

Again, Jack thought, their ages seemed reversed.

"Not really," he shrugged.

"Not really…meaning someone would like you home for dinner which is at…?"

He laughed and nodded as he pulled out a cigarette. "Mom's got dinner ready by 6:30 usually."

"Ha, lucky. I've gotta be home by 5." She glanced down at her watch. "It's 2, I've still got a few hours to kill, any ideas?"

Taking a puff Jack shook his head and said, "I have no idea how to entertain rich girls."

"Something tells me that only applies to ones that are smart enough to do more than fawn and fuck."

Jack had been in the middle of a chug of soda but choked, which in turn caused Cal to laugh out loud. But the boy had already come up with a retort. "Nah, you got it all wrong. It only applies to the minors."

Hanging her head in mock defeat the girl pouted, "fair enough."

"Oh, no snappy comeback?"

"No, I wasted them all apparently." Then after a moment of though she reached inside the car to turn it on. Cocking her head to the side as she sat down she asked suddenly, "You getting in?"

"Where're we going?"

"Away from the school, so I don't get caught."

Jack sighed and went to the other side of the car as she unlocked the door for him. This was insane. He was wandering around with a girl he didn't even know. Unfortunately it was fun, and he had little better to do.

All of a sudden the slightly frightening teenager was chuckling to herself. "What?"

"I just thought of a good way to waste some time and money."

"Yeah…just to let you know, you're kinda scary right now."

"Maybe, but I'd almost guarantee you're gonna enjoy yourself."

Almost half an hour later they parked outside a shopping mall. "What the hell are we doing here?"

Undoing her seatbelt the girl smiled and asked, "Ya ever played laser tag before?"

He stared at her. "Laser tag?"

"There's not gonna be anyone in there this time on a Monday, 'cept maybe a few college kids."

Jack got out of the car without another word and followed her into the arcade. There was something wrong with this girl. No normal teenage girl takes a near stranger to play laser tag…

Cal glanced at her watch. They had almost enough time for two games even if she drove Jack home afterwards. Two games it was then, she forked over the $40. They got plastic bracelets put on each of their wrists. (She heard jack laugh a little as she put her arms up as if being handcuffed). Then they went into the anteroom where four other people were waiting.

Three even teams: red, blue, yellow. Jack and Cal were blue. The other pairs were discussing strategy. Cal unclipped her gun from the bulky vest over her shoulders without saying a word to her partner. He didn't seem to mind, doing much the same thing without even really looking her way. He seemed a little nervous, even raising the gun to aim as if testing the scope of a real weapon. Force of habit, she assumed. She never tested the sight of her real guns, her father or grandfather always did that before they handed it over to her. This was going to be interesting…


	5. Laser Tag!

**Still do not own the Mercers or the storyline from the movie..**

The doors opened, all hell broke loose. They went separate directions. Lots of whispered curses could be heard throughout the course. Someone got Cal from behind and her quiet "shit" joined the chorus. From there she decided to keep her back against the wall.

She was able to take out both members of the yellow team, the dumb asses were pretending to be secret agents. Hiding back in the shadows she could pick off unsuspecting players with ease. Soon she realized it had to be nearing the end of the game. She leaned up against a freestanding wall, but instantly heard someone scuffling about on the other side of it. They heard her too. Both of them fell silent, until the one decided to stalk around the corner to get Cal. She was tempted to run forward and take her shot. It was unnerving waiting for the other person to show up. But standing still was a better tactic, so stand she did.

The lights began to flicker, time was almost up. The stalker jumped around to take his last shot. Cal was ready, aimed at the spot she anticipated him to stop. Neither fired, but Cal smiled. The lights came on and she saw Jack with much the same expression as he clipped his gun to his vest. They'd been stalking each other.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

Back in the anteroom, as the poor underpaid worker finished clipping off bracelets, Cal took advantage of being in the all but empty room.

"Hey, we paid for another round, but I'm gonna be late for work if we don't hurry up. Do you think we could get a game to ourselves instead of waiting for a new group?"

The guy looked around. No one was paying at the counter, no one was waiting in line. He shrugged. "Sure."

As Jack but his blue light up vest back on he said, "That was pretty smooth."

Cal glanced over, fastening a red vest around her waist. "I use that line all the time to get the pool tables at the bar."

"Your dad owns the bar, can't you just use them?"

"Drunk guys are pretty stubborn about their games," she admitted, "But they are rarely smart enough to realize that when I say that, I'm actually already at work." She unclipped her gun, trying not to look over at her laughing companion. Holding up the weapon in mock preparation she suddenly asked, "You ready to get your ass handed to you, Mercer?"

"Ha, why should I be afraid of someone who hides?"

"I'd have shot you when you turned the corner you know. If you hadn't been my teammate of course."

"Only if I hadn't fired first."

The doors finally opened. They went through separate ones this time. Cal could hardly control her excitement. She headed up a set of stairs to a bridge structure and crouched below the walls.

"Hey Jack," she shouted. No reply. "What's 'a' matter Jack, you scared of me?"

"Not really." The closeness of his voice freaked the hell out of her. He was standing on the other side of the wall.

"Jesus," she jumped up and shot down over the wall. He wasn't there. Suddenly her computerized armor announced that she'd been hit in the back. With a sigh she turned to watch Jack disappear over the bridge to her left. "You fuckin' coward," she yelled after him. "Shoot me in the back and run away…" this was a mumble as she took the other bridge in a crouched position. She could see the glow of his suit as he descended the stairs at the other end. He was in a maze like structure slowly working his way toward her. She rushed toward the outer wall of the area, hoping he didn't hear the clatter of her suit.

He came out slowly and looked around. Just as he turned his eyes to where he might possibly have seen her glow she fired and his suit powered down temporarily. With a triumphant smile on her face she walked directly past him, shoving him with her shoulder as she entered the maze where he'd come out.

There was a tunnel through one of the walls. It led out into a fairly open area. She was about to risk the exposure when she saw a little movement and then light. Jack had his back to her. She smiled broadly and shot. Then, following her opponent's example, bolted in the opposite direction.

"Oh, who's the coward now?" she heard him yell.

"The one who's winning," she popped her head over the bridge to shoot down on him, but she shot too soon. He was just powering up and her shot didn't register. But his did. "Fuck!" She ran up the bridge and found another staircase to hide in. As she powered up she saw a bit of light headed her way. Running down the stairs she aimed and shot before he could react. "Still winning," she announced as she took back off up the stairs.

A minute later she'd snuck down to the same wall she'd hidden behind during the last game. All was quiet and for a while the girl was content to simply catch her breath. But all was quiet for far too long. He had to have been nearby; he was waiting to surprise her again. "Ass hole," she muttered.

"I heard that."

"Jesus," she jumped. He was on the other side of the wall again! "Good, I'm glad you heard it, now do me a favor and stop scaring the shit out of me."

"That'd take all the fun out of it."

The lights were threatening to come on now. Making a quick decision, Cal started inching toward the corner of the wall. She was about to turn and aim at her tormentor, but another short statement made her jump.

"Boo."

She'd spun around to face him and he shot. The lights came up three seconds later. Cal leaned against the wall, one arm falling to her side, the other clutching her chest. She slid to the ground, a dramatic death.

"You're a freak." Jack stood over her shaking his head. But he offered her a hand up as she started to pout. "And a sore loser apparently…"

"I didn't lose, we tied," she corrected. She let the man clip her second bracelet and pocketed it before checking her watch. 3:30. Time to finish up the day. But already she was thinking of ways to procrastinate.

She folded her jacket over her arm as they walked out the door. She was kind of sweaty from the game, and the cold air felt good. Not to mention the jolt it gave her forced her to remember that if she got home late there'd be hell to pay.


	6. The Question Game

**Still unfortunately do not own the Four Brothers characters etc...**

Jack pulled the pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He still wasn't sure about this girl, but she'd been right, he had enjoyed himself. Having grabbed his cigarette he was about to put the pack away when it was snatched from his hand.

"Since when do you smoke?"

"Since when do you know me all that well?" She smiled and put a cigarette in her mouth before tossing the pack back to him.

They got in the car with nearly identical maneuvers and she reached into her pocket for the keys. At least that's what Jack assumed she was after, until she pulled out a lighter first. He laughed at her, "You carry a lighter around at school?"

"School pisses me off a lot. I only smoke when I'm pissed."

"Damn, you really are a sore loser."

"I didn't lose!" She said sternly, almost glaring at him as she rolled down her window to let the smoke out. "And if I had lost I still wouldn't be pissed off at losing. I'd be pissed off that I let you beat me."

"Ok, now you're insulting my ability and I won't stand for that."

She laughed, "So I shouldn't claim that your tying the game was just luck then?"

"If you were anyone else I'd be really pissed off at that comment."

"Aw, gee, I'm special?"

"Only because I don't really know you."

"Hey, whatever saves my ass," she smiled and finally turned on the car. Something on the panel in front of her caught her eye. "Shit, I need gas." She flicked her ashes out the window and looked around for the closest station. There was one just across the street. With one hand still holding the cigarette half out the window she shifted into gear and pulled out.

At first the on handed driving didn't seem like a big deal. They were only pulling out of a parking lot after all. But then she decided not to have the patience with crossing the road. Cars on either side honked as she darted between them.

"Jesus woman! Are you trying to kill us or something?"

"If I'd wanted to kill you I'd have slammed on the brakes in the middle of the intersection." She smiled, presumably at his expression which was somewhere between 'what the fuck!' and 'holy shit I'm still alive!'

Squishing her cigarette into the ashtray she reached under her seat and pulled out a wallet. Jack was left alone in the car. Awkward. Too awkward. He reached for the door before he even really thought about what he was doing.

She glanced over at him once but returned her stare to the meter on the gas pump. There was nothing really left to do except meander around inside the convenience store. He was buying himself a new pack of smokes and a soda when Cal came through the door. To his shock she tossed the keys on the counter in front of him.

"Start the car, I'll be out in a sec." She said over her shoulder as she disappeared into the restroom.

She trusted him with her car? She had no fear that he would drive away and leave her there? There was something wrong with that picture. This was bad news. If she was this trusting now then… wait… where the hell was that thought going? What the fuck? Was he seriously _that_ interested in this girl?

Snatching up his stuff he stormed off to the car. He had to stop thinking before she came back. Car equals radio, radio equals music, music equals blank mind…

After a song and a half, and half a cigarette, he heard the door open and felt the old car shift as she sat down. He opened his eyes to look over at her. She'd braided her hair. Ever the snappy-minded fellow, Jack muttered just loud enough for her to hear "Maybe if you'd done that before the game you woulda seen me coming."

She sighed, but smiled. "Careful Jack, remember I'm the one driving you home."

"You pull any more stunts like back there and I'm walking home."

"I'd probably follow you anyway. I really have no desire to go home early."

"So you're gonna waste your gas in order to waste time…"

"Dad pays for the gas, I use as much of it as possible."

"Not spoiled my ass." He was muttering again but she just continued driving. Awkward silence! How were they going to end this day? What was the plan for them? Was there a plan? Ugh, he hated his own mind so much…

………………………………………………………………………………..

Damn radios with their commercials. Cal reached up under her visor and pulled out her Ipod with its handy dandy little adapter tape. She didn't even have to look down to find the music she wanted. Jack looked a little freaked out that she knew the little computer so well. But he was even more shocked by what came out of the speakers (that crackled a little as she turned up the volume).

"Little rich girl is an old-school Aerosmith fan?"

She smiled and glanced over, not really willing to keep her eyes off the road. (Although she had to admit there could be worse ways to die than staring at Jack Mercer.)

"You won't be as impressed with everything else that's on there. There's a lot of pop shit."

"Yeah well that's more what I expected from you." He picked up the Ipod to scan the playlist. It was all a little more mainstream than he listened to, except for the classics of course. And she had quite a few of those, not always good ones though. "Brown-eyed girl?"

"It's catchy," she defended.

Something boy-band-ish had started playing, Jack instinctively hit the skip button. It went to a Creed song, not that he would recognize the band right off. Lullaby. A song of great sentimental value to Cal. But when Jack picked a different song she didn't say anything. The picky musician had settled on Lightning Crashes, but it was obvious he was thinking about what better music he'd have if he had an Ipod.

Feeling a little guilty about her musical torture she turned it down so she could drown it out with talking. "So, whose turn is it to ask a question?"

"Yours," he concluded after a bit of thought that made him look away from the playlist.

"Right, umm…Damn, I'm totally unprepared for this… Well just to get it started, what's your favorite color?" He looked at her awkwardly but she was already laughing. "Yes I know that's a lame question, answer it."

"Black," she chuckled but he was prepared for that. "You ask a lame question you get a lame answer. My turn, first boyfriend, what was he like and how old were you?"

"First of all, where the fuck did that come from, and second, that's two question."

"You answer them both and I'll answer two."

"Alex was my first boyfriend, we dated from the time I was 13 until I was almost 16."

"Alex? You poor kid…"

"You have no idea."

"Oh god, regretting my questions now. Your turn."

"Why'd you hide from your brother at the deli?"

"Haha, because I outed him and his girlfriend a few years ago, and he's been looking for revenge."

"Ah, so Jack can't keep his mouth shut, huh?"

"Jack can keep his mouth shut most of the time. He was pissed off and let it slip in front of Mom."

"Nice." She laughed. "Right, next question. How many girlfriends have you had?"

"Actual girlfriends, maybe two." She was shaking her head. "You ask these questions, you're not allowed to criticize the answers."

"I didn't say a damn thing, Jack. It's your turn."

Before he could stop himself the words slipped out. "Why did you do all of this?"

"Honestly?"

"No I want you to lie. Yes honestly."

"Because I was bored and it sounded like fun." Without skipping a beat she asked "Did you finish high school?"

"Just barely, and only because Evelyn Mercer is the most persuasive person in the world. Where are you going to college next fall?"

"Oooh, skip right over the "are you actually going" part. Very tricky. I'm going to the community college on the other side of town." She hadn't thought of another question yet so she had to pause.

"Turn here," Jack said suddenly, "It's the fifth house on the left."

"Damn, no more questions." She joked.

"You've got time for one more if you hurry."

"Yeah but I don't have one, so it's gonna have to wait."

Wait… wait for what? Jack had the door open as soon as she stopped. A quick exit was the key to not making this more awkward than it already was.

"Thanks for the ride," he waved to her.

"Thanks for getting me out of school," she replied.

He rolled his eyes and headed up the stairs without looking back. Ma was in the kitchen, he could smell it as soon as he opened the door. He'd passed Angel and Sofie making out onthe porch. He'd returned to normalcy. He was home. Slightly relieved he flopped down on the couch, announcing his arrival to Evelyn. She greeted him, and then asked him to set the table. Ah, normal, normal was soothing.

That had definitely been the weirdest fucking day of his life.


	7. Insanity

**Disclaimer: I disclaim all except the characters not found in the movie**

**Authors Note: K, this chapter is really really long... sorry, it just happened. And I just thought I'd mention that it's 1:52 am and I'm writing fan fics while my roommate and her boyfriend snore away... To put this in a different perspective, I'm still fully clothed and I'm getting up for my next breakfast in less than 8 hours. There's something really wrong with me. I mean, I should at least be doing homework instead of fan-fic-ing... but nooo, here I sit, as I've been sitting for the past four hours... Anyway, enjoy the really long chapter that's really useless except for the bonding time...but still, Enjoy...**

Wednesday, 11:30, Cal stood outside the locker room door, cigarette in hand. Damn math class. She didn't even need it. It was the biggest waste of time there ever was in a schedule.

The bell rang. Next period was English. Finally, something at least a little bit worthwhile. Not that she'd have felt bad skipping it, but she had nothing better to do.

It was a pop quiz day. Cal was done in five minutes, the rest of the losers in her class were bound to take another 10 or 15 to write down the answers they were pulling out of their asses because they didn't do the required reading.

Suddenly her bag was vibrating against the floor. Cell phone! But who would be calling her…She nearly leapt out of her seat as she gripped the phone. Walking as calmly as possible to the front of the room she asked to use the restroom. With permission she scurried out into the hallway, closing the door gently. As soon as the coast was clear she was off to the locker room again. Just outside the door she flipped open the phone, never so happy she had it on 7 rings before the voicemail picked up.

"Hello?" She pretended to now know who was on the other end.

"My turn to pick the activity."

"Only if you answer the question I just came up with."

"I didn't call because my brother got into trouble and I had to help him out yesterday."

"Fair enough. Where are you and where are we going."

"I'm sitting on your car, and you'll figure it out when we get there."

"You're gonna have to wait a while," she said, walking slowly toward the corner of the school. "I've got to go back to class to get my stuff."

"You're gonna make me sit out here and freeze my ass off while you go back for a math book?"

"No, the math book stays in my locker. It's my jacket I'm going back for." She smiled, finally rounding the corner. She could see him but he had no idea. Holding her phone away from her face she yelled "Heads up!"

The keys landed just shy of the car. He'd been too caught off guard to catch them. Now he dropped down to pick them up, pocketing his own phone. When he looked back up Cal signaled she would only be 5 minutes, and then darted back into the school.

There were still 20 minutes left of class. But the teacher was talking to one of the trouble makers at the front of the classroom. As quietly as possible she slipped through the door, crept over to her belongings (she cursed herself then for sitting on the far side of the room), and slipped quietly back out the door.

She knew the teacher had seen her, and she thought she heard the door open a few seconds after she'd left, but sneaky little Cal was already stuffing half her stuff in her gym locker. Looping her scarf over her neck she again exited out the locker room door.

………………………………………………………………………….

Jack was sitting half in/half out of the driver's side of the car, cigarette in hand.

"You drivin'?"

"I wasn't aware that that was an option," he admitted in surprise.

"Well, you _are_ the only one who knows where we're going. It makes more sense if you drive. Just don't crash, k?"

"I won't drive like you, I promise."

"Ha, funny," she plopped herself into the passengers seat. "I didn't get us killed."

"Not yet."

"Hey, I'm letting you drive my car, be nice or I'll take over."

Jack ignored her, focusing on forcing the seat back so his long legs would fit. "Damn you're short."

"I'm… sorry?" she giggled. "So anyway, where're we going?"

"I'm not telling you."

"You're a pain in the ass."

"And you're so much better?"

"Ooh, great comeback." They were on the road now, headed toward Jack's part of town. Cal was a little anxious. She had no idea where this guy was taking her. "So you're really not going to tell me where we're going?"

He laughed a little at her, probably hearing the uneasiness in her voice. "Am I scaring you?"

"Um, well, not really other than the fact that this situation sounds like something from a horror movie. I'm not where I'm supposed to be, and you're the only one who knows where I'm going. Oh and no one knows we even associate, let alone 'hang out'."

He was still laughing when he said "Well we're going to a public place if that makes you feel any better."

"A little, yeah," she giggled again and leaned back in the seat. For some reason she really wasn't worried about being around this guy.

……………………………………………………………………………..

Jack felt insane. He still didn't know this girl, and here he was driving her car and stealing her from school. And yet he'd talked to her more in the past two weeks than he'd talked to most of his brothers all month.

She'd seemed a little freaked out a few seconds ago, not that he blamed her. He figured he better keep talking or she'd get bored and start that damn question game again.

"We're not going to be alone, by the way. If that makes you feel better too."

"Oh my God, just tell me what we're doing already!"

"Helping my brother," he stated plainly.

"Helping him do what?... And which brother?"

"Helping him teach his girlfriend how to play hockey, and Angel."

"And why are we doing this?"

"Because he wanted to play hockey and Sophie won't let him do anything without her."

"And how do you expect me to help as I have no skates?"

"Angel brought an extra pair for you."

"Wow, ok, I'm out of questions now." Then, after a second she took it back. "Wait, no I'm not. What if I didn't know how to skate?"

"Well, you probably wouldn't be asking that question. So do you know how to skate?"

"That's not the point," she couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the conversation. "But yes, I can skate. Not so sure about the hockey skills, but the skating I can handle."

"You're already ahead of Sophie so I wouldn't worry about it."

"I…wasn't worried." She'd been sitting away from the seat again and as she sank back she began to blush. "Much," she muttered as an afterthought.

Jack smiled. He'd noticed her sitting forward little by little during the conversation. It was going to be interesting to see how she reacted around the others.

……………………………………………………………………………….

They'd pulled up along the curb. There was a guy skating around on the ice, Cal assumed he was Angel. And the girl lacing up her skates had to be Sophie. Jack got out and immediately walked toward his brother. Cal more cautiously stood with the car door open for a few seconds. She was thinking that any girl with a similar amount of fear would probably have gotten back in the car and driven away. And who could have blamed her really. She hardly knew even one of the people she was with. But she couldn't bring herself to leave without explanation, and she didn't have a good explanation for wanting to leave. Just fear, fear that she lived with every day.

"They won't bite you, I promise," Jack had backtracked a little, seeing her caution. "Well, Angel wont, I wouldn't put it past Sophie."

The Latino woman glared over and yelled "Shut up Jack, you're getting to be as bad as Bobby."

Jack laughed, but tugged at Cal's jacket. "Come on."

She finally closed the car door and walked with him. Angel, having come over to pull his woman out onto the ice, motioned to where he'd left the other skates. Jack handed Cal a pair, glancing down at her feet as he did so. "They might be a little big."

She shrugged and sat on the bench to put them on. Lacing them extra tight compensated for the size difference. Jack was watching her, she could see him out the corner of her eye. Blushing a little she turned to watch Sophie fall on her ass for the third time. She started bitching in Spanish as Jack and Cal laughed. But Cal was getting anxious. She stepped out on the ice and did a quick lap around just to test the skates. She hadn't skated in a year or so, but it was pretty easy to get used to again.

Jack had followed her on to the ice, but he was lingering around his brother. After a bit more joking Sophie threatened to fight the younger man, who skated a safe distance away from her.

Cal turned quickly to test her stopping ability, and then changed direction to join the others in the center of the rink. Angel stuck out his hand in greeting and introduced himself. The girl was a little slow to take his hand, but revealed her name quickly to cover up the few seconds before she reached over. Sophie half-heartedly smiled and waved. She looked like she was probably going to attack Cal if she touched her man again (not that she could have made the skates move far enough without falling on her face). But Cal realized that her nervousness wasn't helping the situation and she resolved to calm down immediately. It wasn't like her to be this nervy around strangers anyway. She didn't want to give the wrong impression, not that she was likely to see these people ever again. Except maybe Jack, but he'd already gotten his first impression, he didn't count….

After about half an hour Sophie was a sufficient enough skater to play a weak version of hockey with. Giving her the stick to lean on made her a little better, but she wasn't so good at the whole taking the puck with her thing. She became the goalkeeper for Angel. Trying to make it fair Cal took the other goal. But the younger girl was still much better, possibly because she was simply more willing to drop to her unprotected knees to stop the puck.

When they were up by five Angel decided that to be fair (and to shut up his woman) Jack and Cal should leave their goal unattended. Jack didn't necessarily think this was a good idea, but Cal shrugged. She was probably kinda bored of standing there.

Still, he didn't want her to get caught between the boys. She'd get hit… not that she didn't get hit all the time, but…. Gah, whatever. He surrendered.

As they started she slipped back and used their goal to slingshot herself to the other side with as much speed as possible. Jack passed to her, and saw her get a little impressed at her own ability to stop the puck.

Angel, on the other hand, was looking pissed, probably due to the fact he could blame no one but himself for this problem. But he went after the girl like he was going after one of his brothers.

"Ang…"

…………………………………………………………………………………..

Jack's warning tone was ignored. But Cal could see and hear the other man coming. She was toying around with the idea of just standing there, but shooting sounded like more fun, so she shot. SCORE!

Angel angrily began to stop, but purposefully knocked into her anyway. One leg skidded out and only one hand had to touch the ice in order for her to stabilize herself.

"Ang, be nice to the kid."

"I didn't hurt her!"

Cal had skated around the rink once before pulling up beside her teammate. He looked more pissed of than his brother which kind of surprised Cal. She decided to butt in with her normal tough-girl demeanor. "It'll take a lot more than that to irritate me, Jack." He turned his head so that he could glance between his brother and the girl he hardly knew. She smiled and skated backwards into playing position. "He's just intimidated because I'm wearing a skirt and I'm still better than him."

Angel's lip curled into a snarl. "I'm gonna kill your girlfriend, White Boy."

"She's not my girlfriend," he said calmly, "And it was your idea to bring her out of goal."

"Blah blah blah," Cal slapped her stick against the ice. "I thought we were playing hockey."

Angel moved forward with the puck, but waited long enough to make the other team nervous before taking off. He made sure to lunge his elbow out and knock Cal to her ass. Jack stopped for a second to make sure she got up, and then skated forward in an attempt to head off his brother. It didn't work, the older boy scored.

Now even more pissed, Jack quickly returned to the center line. But Cal was plotting her next attention-grabbing move.

She held back as Jack tried to make it past their opponent. He had to pass back to Cal in order to keep possession. Angel came at her fast, but she passed back to Jack and sped backwards to come around the other side of the rink again. Angel predicted where she'd come out and placed himself at an angle at which he blocked Jack from making a goal, but could also easily reach out and stop any attempt to pass to the girl. For a while they all just stood there pondering what to do next. Cal's eyes glanced around the rink. Suddenly she skated back a few paces and blurted out, "Jack, don't move."

"Why?"

"Just don't, ok?" She looked up at him for a moment, almost locking eyes with him. A little flustered she put on a cocky façade and smiled at Angel for another moment. Then, picking up her stick, she began skating as hard as she could. She could tell Jack wanted to lift his stick out of her way, it blocked her path around behind the other goal, but she prayed he kept it down. Before she could think about the stupidity and the risk involved in the move she took a two footed leap to clear the stick and the puck that lay beside it. As soon as her feet touched the ice again she reached out with her hand both to steady herself and to help in turning the corners.

Jack was ready to pass to her as soon as she turned the second corner and Angel knew to anticipate it. He moved to block the girl, leaving his goal tending woman at the mercy of his younger brother. The puck wailed her in the side of the thigh.

Cal suppressed her laughter to a snort and covered her mouth to hide her smile. It really wasn't nice to get pleasure from the other girl's pain, but it was kinda funny…

Jack was smiling too, though he was trying to apologize. Angel shoved his little brother out of the way and bent down to tend to his girlfriend. Jack skated over to the other girl, who was still smiling broadly. "Shut up," they both chuckled before he changed the subject. "If I didn't know any better I'd think you were trying to catch someone's attention with that ridiculous stunt."

"Good thing you know me better," she kept smiling, but averted her eyes to watch Angel lift Sophie to her feet. She was thinking 'besides, I already had the attention of the only person I required it from.' But what she actually said was "So I take it we just ended the game?"

"It appears that way," they started following the other couple off the ice.

"Gee, and I was just getting the hang of it."

……………………………………………………………………………….

Sophie was sitting in her own car, changing on the slightly softer seat to ease the throbbing in her thigh. Angel bent down nearby to change his. Ignoring them now Cal sat on the bench to begin the process, Jack lifted his one leg up onto the same bench to do the same.

"You're pretty quick on those skates," he complimented.

Cal suddenly broke into the most unnecessary life-story that she'd ever told... "When I was little my mom signed me up for all sorts of ridiculous stuff, one of which being a speed skating class. I actually stayed in it for like 3 years."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Jack felt kinda mean as he laughed.

"Yeah," she shrugged, "but I was better at it than any of the other things."

Jack had finished tying his boots before she even replaced her first skate. He realized that part of the problem was that she was pretty violently shivering every few seconds. "You're freezing." He felt like slapping himself on the forehead for that dumb comment, but she smiled and managed to get her second shoe on.

"I'm wearing a short skirt to play outside in the dead of winter, probably not the smartest thing I've ever done. Not to mention my ass is wet from falling and my hands are soaked from pulling myself." She finished her knot, dropped her foot to the ground and slapped her hands on her thighs. "But, I'd rather freeze my ass off having a little fun than go home and do schoolwork in the toasty warmth."

"I take it that means you have no intention of leaving yet?"

"Yeah, that's kinda where I was headed with that statement." She nodded, wondering if he's really meant to reply to the earlier statement.

"Well you don't have to freeze your ass off." Angel cut off his next thought, calling for him to bring the skates over. He didn't even make an excuse as he snatched them up and ran to hand them over. His brother was still upset with him, and was glaring a little when he approached. But with his hands free Jack waved and smiled. They'd probably fight over all of this later, but for now he was free of it because as a general rule they'd been taught not to fight in public.

Cal was standing up as he returned to her side, but she wasn't used to the normal pavement yet and lost her balance. If Jack had had a moment to think about it he wouldn't have reached out to help her. But instinctively he did and she flinched at his touch, causing him to flinch a little in return. And yet, since he was already touching her he didn't let go until he was sure she was stable. And even then his hand hovered defensively by her shoulder.

"Maybe you shoulda left the skates on," he joked. She looked away, her already red cheeks deepening a shade, but she was smiling. "You alright now? You think you can manage walking up a couple blocks?"

"I'll give it a try," she stretched her legs to play along with the joke. "It better be pretty flat though, I might trip over something."

"Says the girl that managed to jump a good two feet on ice skates." Jack chuckled as he headed for the sidewalk. He knew without a doubt that she would follow whether he told her to or not. It was convenient and creepy at the same time. She was soon walking beside him, keeping up surprisingly well for being so much shorter than him.

"So… where're we going?"

"My god, you're worse than a five year old." He couldn't help but laugh.

"I am not! It's a simple question, why do you have so much trouble answering simple questions?"

"Because it's way more fun to torture people."

"We're gonna be there before you give up, aren't we?"

"Probably."

"God, you're such a pain." Just then she tripped over a chink in the sidewalk, making Jack laugh out loud.

"You sure you don't need those skates?" She buried her face in her hands as he stopped and turned toward her. "You alright?"

"Physically, yes I'm fine… but my pride is taking one hell of a beating today."

"Technically you're not physically fine since your knees have been bleeding pretty consistantly for about an hour."

"Geez, details, details. I'm a little scuffed up, I'll live. Now help me up so I don't fall again." It was hard to tell if the redness in her cheeks was just from the cold, or if she was still blushing.

He reached down to pull her up. She shivered as his gloved hand closed around her bare one. Smiling he bent down a little to look her in the face. "You gonna make it?"

She pulled away a little. "You know that pride problem… Yeah, you're not helping."

"Sorry," but he was still smiling.

She rolled her eyes but started walking in the general direction they'd been headed in before. "Where are we going," she asked again.

They'd walked far enough that Jack could simply point at the building, and she laughed as he figured she would when she realized what he was doing.

"Nice, trade one school for another."

"We're not going to classes, don't worry."

"I have yet to fear that around you, Jack."

"Nice, real nice. Here I am leading you all around town and you go and insult my schooling."

"Not your schooling, just your ability to stay in class."

"Same thing."

"Yeah, ok."

…………………………………………………………………………………

They stopped to cross the street in front of the school. As they reached the door Jack held it open and ushered her inside. It was like he was trying to make her feel bad about insulting him even in fun. But with an unimpressed look at him she stepped inside.

"This way," he said, pressing gently on a door to their left. She could hear a vaguely familiar thudding get louder as the door opened and suddenly realized where they were going, and that again there were going to be strangers involved.

Jack stepped into the room with little hesitation, but Cal peeked around the corner before moving just inside the door. There were a group of fifth or sixth graders practicing Basketball drills in the gym. No one had yet noticed the arrival of the two older people and the nervy teenage girl wondered what was going to happen when someone looked up.

Now Jack was coaxing her onto the second row of the bleachers. When she kept glancing down at the children he rolled his eyes and tugged at her coat as he had earlier. "They don't bite either. Now get your ass up here where it's warmer."

With a sigh Cal steadied herself on the higher bench and stepped up to follow the orders of this kind almost-stranger. He was right, away from the doors there was no draft and the air was at least a few degrees warmer. She flopped down and bent over to look at her scuffed up knees. They had been raw from the hockey game, and when she'd fallen on the pavement she'd split them both open. They'd begun to scab over, but she licked her thumb and scrubbed at them.

Then some kid was yelling up into the bleachers. "Jack come play with us."

"I'm busy," he claimed as he leaned back, though it was obvious he was nothing of the sort.

"Aw, come on Jack." The first kid whined. Another came up behind him and chimed in "Your girlfriend can play too if she wants."

"She's not my girlfriend," He seemed a bit exasperated at having to explain this a second time.

Cal sat up and looked over at him. "Go play, Jack."

"You were freaked out about being here a few seconds ago, now you're telling me to leave you alone up here?"

"Jack, even if I were your girlfriend I would have no right to stop you from doing what you want. Go play."

"You comin'?"

"Ha, no… Basketball is one thing I know I suck at."

Standing up (to the slight cheers of the children below) Jack took off his jacket, laid it beside her and before turning around muttered jokingly "You just wanna watch this in action," he motioned at himself.

Smiling Cal couldn't help but blush again. "Yeah that too." It was the truth, and by the way he laughed at it he knew. Damn.

But then again… Damn, look at that. He was a mighty fine young specimen, that was for sure. His long-sleeved tee fit just snuggly enough to show off the muscles of his arms. The black short sleeved shirt overtop of it was a little looser but not loose enough to hide anything from a dirty teenage girl. His ratty jeans were much the same.

He was playing at a level just enough above the kids to annoy the opponents of the team he was on, and make him the hero of his teammates. Show-off. She smiled as he faked out someone and passed to another. They were all having an awesome time. He was so good with them. Then again, he was good with her too. He'd known she'd enjoy hockey, he'd brought her in out of the cold, and he'd offered to stay with her instead of going off to have fun. It was cute really. It was almost worth flirting with him over.

But she stopped that train of thought immediately. There would be no such action taken. There was too much risk involved.

………………………………………………………………………………….

Suddenly a couple of gunshots rang from out on the street. Cal's full attention was turned to the wall that faced the streets, though obviously she could see nothing of what was taking place out there.

The game had paused at the sound, but when the shooting was done Jack dribbled a little to pick up where they'd left off. But he edged his way off the court and over to the bleachers. Jesus, why did that have to happen? The girl was already tweaking out on him, now gunshots? She was kind of pale and she still couldn't take her eyes off the wall. Slowly her temporary guardian made his way up to sit where he had been before.

"You ok?"

She swallowed hard, turning now to face the courts again, and nodded her head. Basic instinct would be telling her to run right about now. Run from the sound, and run from the cops that provided added danger soon after. But they were in the school. No one was going to shoot up a room full of seventh graders except maybe a fellow seventh grader. And she had no idea where she was, and was likely to get lost on her way to the car if she was running.

He was about to say something as comforting as he could think of when some of the doors burst open and two cops stomped in.

"Well whadaya know, there's a Mercer hanging around here."

"Shit," Jack stood up, "What seems to be the problem, officers?"

"What, you gonna tell me you didn't hear that gunfire out there?"

"I was playing basketball, kinda hard to hear anything but the ball and squeaky shoes."

"So that's why you're outta breath and sweaty then too?"

Jack nodded.

"You got anybody who can back you up?"

"How about that big group of kids you just scared outta here?"

"They seem to have left you on your own, kid. And your girlfriend there seems to be a little scared about what happened. What happens when we get her alone and ask what she knows?"

"She's gonna tell you I was playing basketball with those kids. She was sitting here watching us."

"Alright, relax Mercer. Why don't you come down here and talk to us."

"Why, so you can search me for a gun. I think you're confusing me for my brother, officer. You must be looking for Bobby, he's quite a bit shorter than me.. heavier build."

"Shut the fuck up kid," Jack smiled. "Alright so I'll believe ya that you don't have a gun on ya, but I know you're not wandering around here without some kind of weapon. Why don't you get your ass down here and cooperate so we can get this over with."

"I'd rather not leave her up here by herself, especially with guys like you hanging around."

"Watch it Mercer."

"Hey listen, you know I didn't fucking to anything, alright. So for once just let me off the hook so I can get her out of here."

"Hey, if you want we can give her a ride to whatever corner you picked her up from."

Jack felt his fist ball up and his jaw set. Fucking cops. But to everyone's shock it was Cal who spoke next.

"If you don't let us go, officer, who's gonna pour your drinks tonight?"

The older cop squinted over at her. "I don't believe it. Tanning's daughter?"

"Yes sir, and what's my father going to say when he finds out what you implied about me?"

"You're hanging out with the wrong crowd, girly."

"Really, 'cause I felt pretty safe 'till you two showed up."

The cop glared and cursed at her in Italian. In another shocking move Cal retorted in the same language. That pissed him off all the more. He turned back to Jack.

"Listen Mercer, all you gotta do is hand over any weapons you got and we'll let you walk out of here."

Jack glanced down at his jacket and thought about the proposal. It was just a knife. He had to get them out of there. But then he looked over at Cal and almost smiled. She was pissed off beyond anything he'd ever seen. She shook her head, she wanted him to decline.

The cops had seen him looking though and were climbing up the bleachers to snatch the jacket. Before they could reach for it however, Cal had thrown it on over her own. What the fuck was she thinking? He was about to ask just that, but the cop started reaching over for her. Jack froze, unable to think of what to do. He could slug the bastard, but that wouldn't really help. He couldn't rip the jacket off the girl, she was backing away now.

The cop took one more step before Cal's anger formed a smile. "You touch me, and it's sexual harassment. Not to mention you'll have to find a new place to drink."

Now Jack's eyes began to bug out of his head. Was she seriously threatening a cop? Damn. He silently reminded himself never to piss her off.

"Just turn out the pockets and we'll leave you both alone." The cop offered.

"First of all," she started, "I don't believe you. And second, unlike you I've got manners enough not to stick my hands into someone else's pockets."

………………………………………………………………………………………

The cops followed them out of the building, but as soon as the youngsters made it to the car they headed the opposite direction. Only then did Cal breathe. All the anger had faded to fear now. She looked over at Jack for a bit of reassurance.

"That was the fucking stupidest shit I've ever seen anyone try." He sounded like a parent scolding their child. Not exactly what she'd been looking for. "You're a fucking psycho, you know that right? You just threatened a fucking cop for some shit that had absolutely nothing to do with you!"

She smiled, though she felt her lip twitch nervously. "You're just jealous."

He bit back a smile. "Fucking right I'm jealous, now get in the car and take me home you psycho. And take my jacket off will ya? I'm gonna smell like girl now."

She shrugged off the heavy leather and tossed it to him before crawling over to unlock his door. They were off before either of them spoke again.

"What did you say to him?"

"When?"

"In Italian, or whatever, what did you say?"

She laughed a little. "He said fuck you, so I told him he'd have to find his dick first."

"Are you shitting me? You threatened him that early on in the conversation? There is something wrong with you, kid."

"Yeah, but if there weren't I wouldn't be hanging out with you, and you wouldn't want me to."

Rolling his eyes Jack settled back to fiddle with the radio. "True enough."


	8. Chick

**Disclaimer: I redundently disclaim all things Four Brothers...unfortunately...**

**Sorry about the wait, and this chapter's not all that long or useful... stupid homework wasting my time, lol. Anyway, I might possibly be able to get another chappie up by monday (depending on the weekend's homework load)...**

**Anyway, enjoy this chappie, and I'll keep working...**

Ugh, and entire day of classes. No fun. Cal figured she'd probably checked her phone every 5 minutes for the entire second half of the school day. She wouldn't have been surprised if the hinges suddenly snapped in half from over use. But the day was over, it was almost 3. She figured she better lug all her books home for the weekend. There was quite a bit of homework if she ever decided to do any of it. It was nearly impossible to toss the heavy backpack over the back seat into the trunk space. She got it nearly over, but it caught on the seat and she had to shift and shove it over.

"Don't hurt yourself, Chick."

She nearly jumped out of her skin. She bashed the back of her head on the roof of the car as she spun around to see where the voice had come from. "Jesus, Jack!" He was laughing, which made her start to smile through her startled fear. She muttered "It's not funny you bastard, that hurt."

"I think you'll live."

"Yeah, but I'll be living in pain. You sure you can live with that?"

"I don't live with you, I don't have to hear you bitch too awful long. Keys."

"You're a little late, Jack. I've gotta head home soon."

"Keys," he commanded again.

"What makes you think I'm gonna let you drive my car again?"

"Don't make me hotwire the car Chick."

"What the hell is this "Chick" thing?" she asked, completely ignoring the threat.

"You're wasting time, keys first."

"They're in the drivers seat, now answer me, where did this Chick thing come from?"

He shrugged as he adjusted the seat back again. "It seemed to suit you."

"Is that a compliment or should I be offended?"

"Both." He started the car without looking over at her.

She laughed, but said, "Put your seatbelt on, loser."

"Yes mother," she got an eye roll.

"If I were your mother I'd be saying 'don't you roll your eyes at me, young man.' And then there'd probably be something along the lines of 'what are you thinking taking that girl away from school for nonsense.'"

"You're good at that," he smiled, still keeping his eyes on the road.

"Impressive considering I haven't had a mom for ten years." She realized immediately that that statement put him in an awkward position, so she switched gears. "So where are we going _this_ time?"

"Best pizza place in town."

"Is there a reason?"

"I owe you food and I can't afford twenty dollar sandwiches." He heard her chuckle. "And tomorrow Alex decided to treat the band to a night out, so I figure you'd need most of tomorrow to prepare yourself for us." Now she groaned.

"Oh god, you mean I have to somehow withstand Alex for an entire evening?"

"I told you he didn't get the message the other night."

"And you're encouraging him by going."

"He's buying me booze, and I'll be there to kick his ass if need be."

"Jack, I swear I'll buy you a fuckin' keg, and refill it limitless times if you stop him from coming."

"Tempting," he admitted. He pulled the car to a stop by the curb, turned it off, and turned to look at her. "But where am I gonna hide a keg in my mother's house?"

Cal sighed, breathing "fuck" as she exhaled. But she was smiling even then.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Jack reached for the door that she held open for him. She was looking around, taking in the unfamiliar scenery. He on the other hand found himself staring at her ass in that damn skirt. He jerked himself out of it. No, she's 17. She's not allowed to have an ass yet. Damn it.

The large sweaty Italian man behind the counter yelled a greeting to him, giving him something else to focus on. "Hey Jackie-boy, what can I do ya for?"

Jack looked over at Cal as he stepped up to the counter. She was eyeing the list of fruity pies in the display case, but then glancing up at the menu. "I have no idea," he replied with a little laugh. "What do you want, Chick?"

It was her turn to roll her eyes. She was already starting to get annoyed with the nickname. That definitely made it a keeper.

"I'm not too picky," she claimed, "Get whatever."

Great, she was gonna test his ability to read her mind. What did a girl like Cal like on her pizza? The problem was he'd never known anyone like Cal, so he had nothing to compare it to. Screw it, she'd said whatever, he was getting his usual. "The usual it is, Joe."

"Gotcha," he turned to start on the pie.

"Hey, is there any way it can be done in 15 minutes or less?" He had glanced at the clock and realized just how little time there was before Cal had to leave.

"Sure, as long as you're not picky."

Jack shrugged and walked over to the fridge full of sodas. He grabbed himself a Mountain Dew and tapped Cal on the shoulder with it to get her to pick her own. She jumped a little at the tap, and scrubbed at the moisture spot it left on her shirt. But after scanning her options she dragged a cherry coke off the shelf.

As they moved to a booth Jack motioned to Joe about the sodas. This was an absentminded move, though. He was focused on the fact that Cal had taken off her jacket. She was wearing the white button up blouse that completed her uniform, but this was the first time he'd seen her in it.

'God, Stop!' He thought. If he didn't stop hanging around this girl he was gonna get himself into trouble. At this rate he didn't figure he could make it until she was legal.

"So I take it you come here a lot." She observed.

"It's a five minute walk from the house. It's easy to escape to, and the food's good, and cheap."

"What exactly do you escape from?" She was intrigued but a little apprehensive.

He laughed, "Not the cops, if that's what you were thinking. There's always a cop or two hanging around here."

She nodded a few times before smiling smugly, "You didn't answer the question."

"Boredom, mostly. No one else is around during the day, except on the rare occasion that Bobby's home. And believe it or not, I'm not all that fond of soap operas."

"Really?" She asked sarcastically, "I woulda pegged you for one of those guys that got hooked."

"Yeah…no."

She chuckled a little but then she switched topics, which she seemed to be really good at. "So I really have to put up with Alex tomorrow?"

"It appears that way. Don't worry about it, I really will kick his ass if he gets outta hand, I wasn't kidding."

She glanced at the ceiling and smiled to herself. "Alright, I give up, but only because it'll be fun to watch Alex cry."

"Yeah except he's the one buying my drinks…"

"Trust me, if you beat the shithead up you can have whatever you want the rest of the night."

Jack chugged half his Dew before looking down at her. "I get the feeling your relationship with him wasn't the best."

"You're a genius Jack! It's like you can read minds or something!" Her sarcasm was harsher than his, but he'd already figured this was a touchy subject.

"What did he do?" (not that he needed another reason to beat up the idiot, but he still wanted to know)

"Lots, long story, not one I've ever told to anyone before."

The pizza was suddenly being placed on the table in between them. Jack devoured half a slice before Cal even managed to pull one off for herself. Surprisingly enough, in the next 10 minutes she'd downed three slices. Not bad for someone who'd probably eaten lunch only a few hours ago. Meanwhile Jack picked up the final slice to finish up. He was about to take a bite when he noticed the girl looking up at him with a knowing smile.

"What?"

"Nothing," she tried to keep her smile from growing wider, turning her face away.

"I'm hungry," he defended.

"Maybe you should lay off the pot." He gagged on cheese. "Alex is good at convincing people to join in on his bad habits."

"I'd already started when I met Alex… and it's not that bad!"

"Depends on how much you do."

"You're a fuckin' stoner!"

"I was, when I was dating Alex. Trust me, scary things can happen if you do drugs with that boy."

Jack silently chewed for a second, letting the information settle in. "You just said drugs…as in multiple."

"I thought we decided not to talk about me and Alex." She'd leaned her elbow on the table and was nervously stroking her neck.

"You started this conversation."

"I…dabbled." She admitted without looking up. "Some of it wasn't necessarily voluntary though."

Now Jack realized why she hadn't wanted to bring this up. It was directly linked to the 'what did he do' question. Son of a bitch, it wasn't gonna take much to make Jack punch the shit out of him the next night.

Cal looked at her watch, but it was obvious she felt bad about the whole eat and run situation. Jack wiped his mouth on his sleeve and grabbed the pizza tray in one hand, his now empty soda bottle in the other. He glanced over his shoulder to see the girl pull her jacket on as he pulled out the cash for the food.

Joe leaned forward on the counter to ask "Who's the hottie?"

Hiding his embarrassment with a smile the younger man said "Shut up, Joe."

"Oooh, must be serious." The man kidded.

"She's just a friend."

"Well in that case…"

Jack cut off his friend's old joke. "She's too young for you."

"No such thing," the man claimed.

"There is if you don't want to get arrested." He left the man stunned at the counter and led Cal out the door.

It was getting colder out now that the sun was setting. Jack stuffed his hands in his pockets only to remember that her keys were in there. He pulled them out and handed them over.

"You want a ride?"

"Nah, I'm good. You're gonna be late already anyway."

She nodded and moved to the driver's side of the car. "Thanks for the pizza."

"See ya tomorrow." He waved as she got in. By the time she drove off he had to yank his thoughts back to reality. She wasn't even all that perfect. She wasn't the bombshells he'd done in the past. And yet he kept having to rein his mind in to realize this. He wondered how long it would be before he wouldn't be able to pull back anymore.

………………………………………………………………………………………


	9. Abuse

**Disclaimer: I still in no way shape or form own anything of the Four Brothers. This is just venting based on the movie, please don't sue me, I appreciate it, thanks...**

**Author's note: Brain flow plus time equals HUZZAH I WROTE STUFF... this is a really long chappie, hope you enjoy, and I still hope to have another one done soon, possibly by the end of the weekend... We'll see...**

………………………………………………………………………………………

Cal was hovering over a textbook when the boys all burst into the bar around 10 Friday night. She thought she had herself mentally prepared to deal with Alex, but when he sidled up to the bar she began having second thoughts. Every time he was around she lost her nerve about everything. Damn him. He'd had complete control over her for so long that even two years later she hadn't completely broken free. But it was Jack that got the seat directly across from her and she found herself sighing a bit with relief. Maybe he was the cure she'd been looking for… the antidote to Alex Hemer.

"What do you want?" she asked them all collectively. They rambled off orders, except Jack. But after she'd given out all the others she knew what to pour into the last glass.

After a little bit of average teasing Alex and most of the others dispersed. Cal moved to go back to her homework, knowing full well, she would get little done with Jack sitting across the counter. He watched his bandmates for a while, allowing her to finish up a question and close her book.

"You actually do homework?"

"Only when it's necessary," she grabbed herself a beer and played with the cap a little as she glanced around the bar. It wasn't at all busy considering it was a Friday night. There were a few other people, mostly the regulars. She could get them refills blindfolded they came in so much.

And then she found herself again watching Alex's every move. He was basically molesting some poor girl who'd dressed really slutty. Big mistake on her part. Cal almost felt bad for her, but as long as she was keeping Alex away from her she selfishly didn't mind letting things happen.

………………………………………………………………………………………

"Nice bruise," his words snapped her out of her stupor.

"What?"

"You're arm."

She glanced down, remembering the mark, and shrugged. Jack could see a simmering anger behind her half smile when he mentioned the bruise. She wouldn't look him as she explained simply, "I was late to work yesterday."

They both took drinks in the uncomfortable silence. Jack wanted so badly to tell her to get out, but he knew she wouldn't listen. Who was he to tell her how to live her life? Just some guy she met at a bar and went to lunch with a few times. He should just drop the subject and leave her alone… but he couldn't. "Why are you sticking around next year?"

"Because he pays for everything." She stood to refill some other guy's glass and didn't sit back down.

"Alright, I'm sorry. I'll stop asking questions now." He tried to get her to calm down. It might have worked had Alex not come back for another couple of drinks and opened his fucking mouth.

"Callie, my bitch," he slapped the counter to add to the insulting nature of his presence. Jack watched closely as she handed over the two beers. Alex reached for them, but grabbed her wrists instead. "When you gonna let me back in, baby?"

Her breathing quickened and she stared hard at the grain of the counter. "Leave her alone, Alex." The other boy glared over at his bandmate, but the girl didn't budge. "She obviously doesn't want to be touched by you. We established that the last time we were here. Let her go, and you go play with that whore you were with."

She didn't thank him this time when the bastard walked away. She just stood there trying to collect herself. Jack leaned over and put her beer in front of her. At this she smiled a little and allowed herself to look up as she drank. For the first time she seemed to actually be the kid he'd been trying to convince himself she was. She withdrawn into herself for protection, and she was trying to bring out her strong front again. Jack noticed it immediately only because he had kind of been expecting it. It was almost exactly what he'd seen in the mirror all those years ago.

With a deep breath she was almost back to her normal self again. She sat down and set her hand on her textbook, debating for a moment whether or not to open it up. She decided against it and took another chug of beer.

"So much for that doing homework idea." Jack said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"It's Friday, I don't have to have it done until Monday…or later, depending on what happens."

"Subtle, Chick, real subtle." She smiled broadly with false innocence, making him laugh into his nearly empty glass. "Now you're just plain disturbing."

She chuckled as she took down her hair to play with. But the thick dark waves had to wait a minute as another customer walked over. He commented on her look, saying she should wear her hair down more often. She blushed and served him quickly in order to return to her seat and ignore the advice.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Cal had just finished her braid and picked up her drink when the front door opened for the first time in about half an hour. She tried desperately not to spit her beer across the counter, wiping what dribbled with the back of her hand. Jack had looked over in curiosity and turned back to fully face the bar now.

"Holy shit."

"They're gonna sit right next to you too, I guarantee it." Cal smiled as she turned to grab a couple of glasses.

"Can't you kick them out or something?"

She laughed. "Trust me, I would if I could."

The two cops did indeed sit next to Jack, who moved as far to the opposite edge of his barstool as possible while still keeping his balance. They accepted their beers and continued talking to one another. Both young people tried to listen in, but they stopped soon after and turned to talk to Cal instead.

"So does your father know what you were up to the other day?"

"Sure," she shrugged. "I was at school, where I always am on weekdays when I'm not here doing homework and running the bar."

The way she bluffed irked them to no end. "That Mercer kid's having a bad influence on you."

"You do realize 'that Mercer kid' is sitting next to you."

Jack, who had been trying to hide his presence, gave the girl a death glare. But she poured him another drink and shook her head. He didn't know what that was supposed to mean, but he drank and looked over at the cops. They had been stunned to find themselves in the same place as the troublemaker they'd been talking about. Now they decided to move to a table across the bar, away from the potentially dangerous boy who had probably been listening to their conversations.

"I still say you should kick them out," he said, though he was obviously relieved that they were away from him.

"You know, this conversation is starting to sound an awful lot like another one I remember. Except I think I was the one making the suggestions that got ignored."

"Are you fucking kidding me? You're letting them stay to get back at me for letting Alex come?"

"Payback's a bitch huh?" she finished off her beer and tossed the bottle away.

"You're ruthless, you know that? Remind me not to ever really piss you off, I value my life too much."

"I wouldn't kill anyone for pissing me off," she claimed. "Castrate or maim maybe, but not kill." Her words made the man shudder and she laughed at him. "I'm kidding, Jack."

"Yeah, well it definitely wasn't funny."

"Sorry," she said, still laughing.

"Just change the subject already."

"What do you wanna do next week."

He rolled his eyes. This topic wasn't much better than the first apparently. "You're gonna get us both in trouble, you know that right?"

"I don't think you need my help getting into trouble, my friend."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you can handle it for yourself as well. All the more reason I shouldn't let you skip classes anymore."

"I'm gonna skip classes whether it's with you or just laying around in the locker room," she admitted. "I may pass my classes but that doesn't mean that I go to them."

As he nodded Cal knew she'd just won the debate.

………………………………………………………………………………………

The brothers had congregated around the dining room table. They'd been talking for a good three hours. Jack ignored the ringing phone like he always did when all his brothers were around. Someone else would get it. None of his "friends" called him anyway. But when his mother stood between the kitchen and the dining room and said the phone was for him he let his head fall back and muttered, "Shit."

He grabbed the phone from his mother, having to rip at it to protect if from Bobby. "I'm sorry," was the first thing he said, instantaneously flipping off his brother as they laughed.

"It's alright, I heard the others in the background, I understand."

Angel suddenly piped up, having figured out who was calling, "Aww, that sweet Jackie, ditching your girlfriend for us."

"Woah, wait, what?" Bobby hated being out of the loop.

"Yeah, you should see her Bobby. She's a cute little private school girl."

"You're shittin' me! Jackie does she know about you and your… feelings?" the eldest brother joked.

Covering the receiver Jack sternly stated, "She's not my girlfriend and I'm not gay, fuck off Bobby."

"So there really is a girl on the phone?"

Jack got up to leave the room but Bobby grabbed his brother's arm and yanked the phone away. Covering the mouthpiece again he asked. "What's her name Jackie?" The youngest brother lunged for the phone, but the oldest spun out of his chair to back away.

"Her name's Cal," Angel yelled after them. Jack glared over at him, but continued chasing after Bobby who was quickly moving between rooms.

"Hey Cal?" Jack snarled as he heard his brother spoke, but as he prepared to yell for Bobby to knock it off he heard Cal laugh. Bobby had put the receiver on speakerphone apparently.

"I'm going to have to guess that you're Bobby," he heard her say.

"Oh a smart kid… Where the hell did you meet my loser of a little brother anyway?"

Evelyn yelled for her eldest son to watch his mouth around the young woman. He smiled sheepishly and apologized, but had to turn the corner to avoid Jack again.

"I met him at my dad's bar. I was working, his band was playing."

"How long ago was that?"

"A few weeks."

"So why are you calling him now?"

"We had plans, but I'll take a rain-check to you, you're much higher up on his priority list."

"No, that's no excuse, he should have called you," Bobby smiled as Jack called him an ass hole.

"Absolutely, but I'm not his girlfriend so I can't really hold it against him."

"You're calling him, but you're not his girlfriend? Are you fucking him at least?"

His two middle brothers were laughing their asses off, Jack lunged for the phone again (still missed), and Evelyn sternly yelled her oldest boy's name. And yet through all of this Bobby could hear the girl chuckle.

Jack spoke up, "Bobby, don't you have something better to do than bother the girl? Give me the phone."

"No," he stated adamantly, pulling away again. "Now I want an answer to the question I just got in trouble for!"

But Cal had realized she was on speakerphone and half-shouted. "It's alright Jack, it's probably just been a while since he's heard a female voice that doesn't belong to his mother."

Shocked silence took over for a second before almost everyone started laughing. Even Evelyn couldn't help but smile, though she covered it with her hand. Angel laughed so hard he fell out of his chair, Jerry leaned his arm on his fallen brother's shoulder and they continued laughing together. Bobby took a minute to calm himself.

"That was pretty smooth, girly." He stepped away from the laughing so it would be easier to hear. "But I still want an answer to my question."

"I should lie to you, but since I know I'm on speakerphone, and I assume your mother is nearby, I'll be a good girl and admit no, I have not fucked your brother."

"Not for lack of trying, I assume."

"Shut the fuck up, Bobby," Jack's frustration had reemerged.

"Nah, he want's me, he just can't have me."

Now the youngest boy was staring in confusion at the phone. WTF!

Bobby was laughing, "Oh yeah, and why's that."

"Well mostly because I'm only 17."

Angel and Jerry "Oohoo"ed the statement and Bobby shook his head with a sly smile. "17, Jackie?" he wagged his finger in a mock scolding. "Tsk tsk."

But Cal interrupted again. "Listen, Bobby, it's been fun talking to you and all, but I'm gonna be late for work and I still have to talk to you brother, so could you do me a favor and hand over the phone?"

"I suppose I could," he offered, "But don't expect me to be so lenient if I'm around the next time you call."

"That's not a bad threat. Too bad I'm not scared by it."

"Watch yourself, girly."

"Yeah, I'm still not afraid of you. Now hand over the phone."

Biting his cheek Bobby relented and passed the receiver to his little brother. Immediately the speakerphone was turned off and the boy walked into the other room and headed up the stairs. He could hear the other two goading Bobby about being dissed by a kid and a girl. It made him smile a little. "I'm sorry about him," he told her as he reached the top step.

"Not a problem, I've dealt with worse guys."

"Yeah, but that whole thing…"

"I'm not worried about it Jack. Listen, I've got a lot of work to get done between now and Wednesday, and I figure you wanna spend time with your brother. But Thursday I've got nothing."

"The band practices 'till 3 on Thursdays," he admitted. Why, he had no idea. He should have been discouraging her, but no he was just stating weak excuses.

"Where, at Alex's place?"

"Yeah."

"I can pick you up?" She offered. It was more of a question. He should say no. He should tell her to stop hanging out with him.

"That seems kinda stupid."

"Not for someone who's bored."

He thought for another few seconds. He really shouldn't do this. But again, he had nothing better to do with his time. "Yeah, alright."

"Ok then. Hey I'm sorry if any of the stuff from before gets you into trouble."

"I'll deal with it."

"Still."

"It's alright, Chick. You better get to work, I'll see you Thursday."

"Yeah, see ya." She hung up first.

Jack leaned his arm on the wall and rubbed his forehead with his thumb. He was gonna be in deep shit with his mother, and he wasn't ever gonna live this down with his brothers. Spinning the phone in his hand he took a deep breath and headed down the stairs.

The other three brothers were still laughing and joking at the table. Jack walked past them into the kitchen ignoring the start of the taunting. He put the phone back on its charger and was about to go face the barrage when Evelyn quietly said his name. Dammit. That sweet, innocent, old woman voice would make him turn and face her and she'd look up at him and he'd lose every ounce of resolve he'd built up. He'd been hoping to face his brothers first, he needed the resolve for that. Apparently it just wasn't his lucky day.

"Yeah Ma…" he turned around reluctantly and walked back to lean against the counter. This was probably going to take a while.

"Who exactly is this girl?"

"She's a friend, Ma." He saw her disbelief and sighed. "Mom, I'm telling you I'm not dating her, I'm not sleeping with her, we just hang out sometimes."

"You had better not be lying to me Jack Mercer."

"Trust me Mom, I'd admit to doing something with her, even if just to get those guys off my back." He motioned toward the dining room and Evelyn nodded.

"Alright Jackie, just be careful. Don't do anything stupid."

Too late, he thought as he sighed and walked into the other room for his second interrogation. He knew getting it over with was better then hiding in his room and waiting. It would only get worse with the wait. But he was still nervous, so he grabbed an apple off the counter to play with. Flopping down into a chair he tossed the fruit between his hands and waited. The other boys smiled at each other and then collectively at him.

"So did her heart break when you told her you were gay?" The apple went flying at the oldest boy's head, and though he successfully batted it away he shook his stinging hand afterwards. Score 1 Jack….at least in his own mind… but Bobby wasn't done. He turned to the others. "Ooh, he didn't tell her yet."

"So when are you meetin' her again?" Angel was getting sick of the gay jokes anyway so he changed the subject.

"None of your business." Jack had crossed his arms and was tipping the chair back on two legs.

"So you are seeing her again?"

The youngest brother rolled his eyes and turned an exasperated look toward Jerry. Leave it to him to ask the stupid question. "Yes, I'm seeing her again. If I stopped hanging out with friends every time you guys talked to them I'd be the loneliest bastard on Earth."

"So Jackie," Bobby leaned forward in order to talk a bit quieter. "When's her birthday?"

"April," he was trying to stop reacting to them. It was working for now.

"So she'll be 18 in two months? Well, that's not so bad."

"Shut up," he mumbled, glancing up to see which of the other two was next.

Angel noticed and held up his hands in defeat. "Hey, I'm not gonna discourage you man, she seemed like a cool kid."

"Wait, you've met her?" Bobby was confused.

"Yeah, I tried to teach Sophie to play hockey last week 'cause it was the only way she'd let me go to the rink. I wanted Jack to come, you know, so I could actually do something besides have my girlfriend shoot pucks at me, and he brought Cal along."

Evelyn kept glancing over at Jack and it was making him nervous. What was she thinking about now? Was she realizing he'd been helping Cal skip school? If she figured that out he was gonna get reamed out like there was no tomorrow…

"Was she any good?" As soon as hockey came up in the conversation Bobby got all serious.

"She wasn't bad. She was really quick on her skates, and not afraid to take a hit."

"Angel Mercer did you hit that girl?"

The brother cringed. "I knocked into her a few times Ma, she didn't complain about it."

The woman was shaking her head, but went about her business in the kitchen.

"So she's a tough girl huh?"

Jack shrugged, "she tries to be."

The other three all chuckled. But then Jerry asked, "So when do the rest of us get to see her?"

Though he was tempted to say never he blurted out, "technically you already have, Jer."

"What?"

"Last Monday do you remember a girl dumping her tray all over that little sandwich place on the other side of town?"

"Yeah…" it took a minute for him to get it. "Oh shit, was that her? Were you there? Where were you?"

"She did that so that I could get out of there without you noticing me."

"What the fuck were you hiding from Jerry for?" Bobby seemed a little offended.

"Because the little shit was the one that told Mom about Camille. He was afraid I'd turn the tables on him."

Jack looked over at his oldest brother to confirm the story. Bobby rolled his eyes and shook his head, but had not reply yet.

Jerry thought back to the day and tried to remember what the girl had looked like. He nodded his head, "Yeah she wasn't bad looking at all if I remember right."

"So wait," Bobby's one track mind had locked in on hockey… "Who won the game."

"We did," Jack blurted out.

"You and your girly?" when he receive a confirming nod he looked across the table at the other brother involved. "Ang, you let a girl and Jackie beat you?"

"Well, we kind of outnumbered him. Sophie can't skate worth shit." Angel gave his little brother a grateful look.

"Well that figures. When you gonna get rid of that bitch anyway?"

"Don't even start, Bobby."

"Right, we were talking about Jackie's girl anyway."

"She's not my girl, Bobby."

"Whatever, so how did this whole thing between you two get started?"

"She told you, the band played at her dad's bar."

"And then…"

"And then she stuck her cell phone number in my guitar case, I got bored last Monday and met up with her."

"Where'd you go?"

"Already said that part too, the deli."

"And after you evaded Jerry?"

He should lie and said he came home… but then he wouldn't be able to stun them all with the truth. "Laser tag."

"What? How the hell did you play laser tag?"

"She's got a car, and a shit load of spending money."

He heard Angel mutter "nice!" But again Bobby had something to ask. "Who won?"

"We tied," he'd started off with the truth, why not stick with it.

"Did you let her tie?"

"No, she's pretty good. I actually had to try to win."

"Geez Jackie she sounds an awful lot like a man to me."

Heaving a sigh Jack slammed the front two feet of his chair down and stood to leave the room. Bobby tried to call after him, but this was their ritual. When Jack had had enough of the gay jokes he went off to fume about it, that's just how it worked. Unfortunately Bobby never seemed satisfied that he'd pestered his brother enough.

As he walked into the kitchen Evelyn told him to make a salad. He obeyed. Chopping things up was sounding pretty relieving to him. But he should have known she had an ulterior motive for keeping him in the room.

"Is she still in school?"

His slice in the cucumber suddenly slanted drastically to the left and he hung his head. "Yeah Ma she's still in school."

"Then she's been skipping to do things with you?"

"A little." He knew a flat out lie wouldn't work, but he figured a little something couldn't hurt.

"Jackie," he could feel her eyes boring into him already and he knew she was gonna say it, "Look at me."

Dammit woman! Bracing himself on the counter he turned to look over his shoulder. That's all she was going to get out of him.

"You are not to let her skip school any more, do you understand me?" She was scolding her 20 year old son… and it was working. She didn't yell, or glare, she just gently stated a fact while staring him in the eye.

"She skipped classes before she met me, Mom. And anyway, she won't listen to me if I tell her not to. She's stubborn, and doesn't like rules."

"Obviously."

Jack had gone back to chopping, but he laughed to himself and switched back to the same stance he'd taken before. "I'll do what I can, Ma."

"Thank you."

"No problem," he muttered sarcastically.

"So when are you meeting her again."

"Jesus Mom, now I know where they get it from." He had pointed to the dining room with the knife as he moved another veggie onto the cutting board.

"Watch your mouth, and don't swing that thing around." It was quiet for a minute as he obeyed and then sighed.

"Thursday, she's picking me up from practice."

"When is she supposed to get out of classes?"

"I don't know, Mom, I'll ask her Thursday."

"Alright." She left it at that, changing her tone to, "You almost done with that salad?"

………………………………………………………………………………………

3 am. Cal cringed as she flexed her shoulder. Damn that hurt. She put her back to the mirror and looked over to see how bad it really was. The ugly blotch was so dark it was almost black. Slowly, tenderly she put on her pajamas. Laying down was going to hurt like a bitch. She tried to be gently, bending slowly, but she lost her balance like she always did when she was actually trying not to. She caught herself and the mattress absorbed most of the blow, but she still hissed. She was going to have to be more careful about this whole staying in town deal. The thought never crossed her mind to not meet up with Jack. It wasn't an option. He was way too much fun, and he liked her. His silence over the phone when she'd said that had made her smile and blush. She hadn't meant it when she said it, but apparently it was true. Jack wasn't one to stop defending himself, she was sure of it. She'd totally caught him off guard, and if he'd had to think about it, chances were it was true.

It really did suck that she was "only 17" for another two months….

…………………………………………………………………………………


	10. The Boundaries of Pain and Proximity

**Still don't own Four Brothers, and still would appreciate not getting sued for using them...**

**I'm too tired to have witty comments tonight, so just enjoy this stuff I'm posting at 1:30 am...( I hate it when my brain flows past my bed time, it's really irritating...)**

The first week of April was the 7th week Cal had picked Jack up from practice. She sat on the hood of her car now doing homework while she waited. She could hear him talking, heading out with all the others. But Cal had her eyes closed, a page held with her finger. The only way she could tell when he was close by was when he started laughing at her.

"It usually works better with your eyes, and the book, open."

She smiled, but tried to finish what she was doing. Jack waved his hand in front of her face, she could feel the breeze it created, and he was still laughing. Slightly irritated she opened her eyes a crack and grabbed his wrist to stop him.

"Oooh, quick Chick!"

She let go of him but put her finger to her lips. "Shush for a second, will ya? I gotta memorize this for tomorrow."

"What is 'it'?"

"A poem." Jack reached for the book but she pulled it out of his reach. "And no, I'm not going to recite it."

"Aww, come on Chicky."

"No," she could feel herself blush and hated it. But because she dwelled on it he was able to not only grab the book, but slip his finger in the same place she'd had hers.

He spun over to sit next to her and opened up to the page. "Which one is it?" She turned around pretending not to notice so Jack started reading things off. "A Leave Taking?" she didn't respond so he tried again, "Lesbia…hey what kind of poems are these, you weirdo." She laughed but didn't speak. Well since the only other one on this page is 'A Woman Who Understands'…"

Cal sighed and started reciting.

"Somewhere she waits to make you win, your soul in her firm, white hands-

Somewhere the gods have made for you, the Woman Who Understands!

As the tide went out she found him

Lashed to the spar of Despair.." She gave another exasperated sigh before continuing…

"The wreck of his Ship around him-The wreck of his dreams in the air; Found him and loved him and gathered The soul of him close to her heart-- The soul that had sailed an uncharted sea, The soul that had sought to win and be free-- The soul of which she was part! And there in the dusk she cried to the man, 'Win your battle--you can, you can!'

Broken by Fate, unrelenting, Scarred by the lashings of Chance; Bitter his heart--unrepenting-- Hardened by Circumstance; Shadowed by Failure ever, Cursing, he would have died, But the touch of her hand, her strong warm hand, And her love of his soul, took full command, Just at the turn of the tide! Standing beside him, filled with trust, 'Win!' she whispered, 'you must, you must!'

Helping and loving and guiding, Urging when that were best, Holding her fears in hiding Deep in her quiet breast; This is the woman who kept him True to his standards lost, When, tossed in the storm and stress of strife, He thought himself through with the game of life And ready to pay the cost. Watching and guarding, whispering still, 'Win you can--and you will, you will!'

This is the story of ages, This is the Woman's way; Wiser than seers or sages, Lifting us day by day; Facing all things with a courage Nothing can daunt or dim, Treading Life's path, wherever it leads-- Lined with flowers or choked with weeds, But ever with him--with him! Guidon--comrade--golden spur-- The men who win are helped by her!

Somewhere she waits, strong in belief, your soul in her firm, white hands: Thank well the gods, when she comes to you--the Woman Who Understands!"

When she was finished she turned slowly to raise an eyebrow at Jack. He'd closed the book and returned the look. "Well Whatta ya know, you are actually a girl after all."

"Fuck you," She slid off the car and though she was smiling she was appalled at what she'd surrendered to. She was about to yell at him to get in the car when another voice made her spin around in surprise.

………………………………………………………………………………………

"Woah, what's this. Callie, you little whore, you with Jack-o now?"

Jack saw Cal get pale and swallow hard. "How many time's do we have to tell you to leave her alone Alex. Are you really that stupid?"

"Did you tell him everything, bitch? Was he your shoulder to cry on, was he there to fuck you when you missed me?" The boy's teasing tone irritated his bandmate to no end. But Cal had shut down. She tried desperately to turn to the car but Alex grabbed her wrist. She tried to pull away, but slipped in the slush left by the curb. Her face fell onto the hood pretty hard, and her wrist twisted in the boy's tight grip.

"Hey hey hey," Jack jumped up and slugged the other boy. "Didn't your parents ever teach you not to hurt girls?"

The jackass half-smiled as he rubbed his jaw. "Why do you think I never hit you Jackie boy?"

Jack didn't realize he was retaliating until his fist was in the other boy's stomach. He pulled back immediately, not knowing what was going to happen.

Alex was on one knee, but he stumbled over toward Cal. Jack followed angrily. The girl was trying to make her nose stop bleeding, she didn't need any more trouble. But she prepared to get into the car. Alex reached for her other wrist but as soon as she felt his touch she turned around and mirrored Jack's punch to his face.

Before this could go on any longer Jack grabbed his bandmate by the back of his shirt and dragged him away from the car. Kneeling down he pointed at the boy and said "Touch her again and I'll kick the living shit out of you. Got it?"

He didn't pay any attention to the retreating loser as he stormed over to the car. "You alright Chick?" She'd dragged a tissue out and held it against her nose, but she'd still gotten some of the blood on her unbuttoned blouse. She was sitting in the car leaning out, way to awkward a place for him to get near her. He beckoned her out. "Get over here, let me see."

Sniffing, she rubbed her nose and took the tissue away to look. "I'm fine, Jack."

"Yeah," he leaned on the open car door. "Then why are you using your left hand to hold your nose, even though your right hand isn't doing anything." She clenched her jaw and ignored him. "Cal, get out here. Sit on the car, let me make sure you're really ok, then we'll go, alright." He started lighting a cigarette as he waited for her to comply. She was pissed, and it took a couple of deep breaths before she even turned her head in his direction. But she wasn't looking at him, she was looking off in the direction the abusive bastard had run. Following her gaze for a second Jack shook his head. "He's not coming back."

She finally stood, but she slammed the car door as she walked around it. Again using her left hand she pulled herself back up on the hood and allowed Jack to do his inspection. He tipped her head back to look at her nose. It didn't appear to be broken, just bloodied. His hand moved from her face to her shoulder, causing her to flinch, but his thumb started sliding up and down her neck though he didn't notice. She relaxed a little until he reached for her arm, at which time she spoke up again. "I'm fine."

"Yeah?" Jack smiled at her and it made her angry. "Is that why you don't want me touching your wrist?"

"It's twisted a little, I'll live."

"You're changing your story." This time her deep breath had a shudder to it. Dammit, she was gonna cry. As he tried to think how to handle the situation she snatched the cigarette he'd just put back in his mouth. "Hey!"

"Shut up and get this over with."

"Jesus, relax will ya. I'm just trying to be nice here."

"What do I have to do to prove to you I'm fine, twist my hand around a few times?"

"The goal here is to stop you from crying, not to make you cry."

"I'm not crying," she rolled her eyes.

"No, you're not, which is pretty impressive and almost makes me want to take back what I said about you actually being a girl. And your stubbornness is helping."

"What do you want me to do, Jack?" As she finished he reached forward and bent her wrist slightly. She collapsed forward a little groan of pain. She suddenly felt the need to admit, "There's a first aid kit in the back, under the driver's seat." He went to get it without a reply, returning with an ace bandage in his hand. He held out his hand for hers but didn't grab at her. She almost managed a smile as she lifted her sore limb. "You don't have to do this."

"Yeah I do." She'd been holding the cigarette in her left hand and he bent down to take it in his mouth. She used her now free hand to lean against, trying to ignore the throbbing of its opposite. He was as gentle as he knew how to be and she still flinched every once in a while.

But she looked over at him and noticed something in her calmer state that she'd missed before. "What the fuck is on your neck Jack?" She knew very well what it was and was laughing as much as she could manage.

"None of your business Chick," he mumbled around the cigarette.

"Which one of Alex's bitches gave you that lovely present?"

He yanked on the bandage a little and made her gasp. "Shut up."

"I used to know all of the girls that hung with Alex, is it someone I know?"

"Probably not."

"Oh, why not?"

"It wasn't one of Alex's girls."

She laughed, "Of course not. Jack's got his own harem right?"

"Damn straight." He laughed at the ridiculous thought as he clipped the end on the bandage. She immediately used her crippled hand to turn his cheek and look closer at the hickey.

"Geez, you're such a man-whore Jack."

He swatted her gently away and changed the subject. "Gimme the keys, I'll drive back to my place, give your wrist a chance to relax."

"They're in my pocket," she said without an attempt to retrieve them.

"Yeah, I know, that's why I asked you for them instead of reaching for them."

"Such modesty from the man who obviously had a woman suctioned to him not long ago."

"Completely different situation."

"Why, because you were high?"

"Well, there is that…" Honestly he was afraid. He knew exactly what she was thinking of because he was thinking it too. If he'd just reached into her pocket and taken the keys she'd probably have yelled at him for stealing them and it would be over. But no, he had to try to distance himself from her. It wasn't even the stupid age thing anymore either. It was the fact that he knew her too well.

She'd laughed at his response and pulled out the keys to hand to him. He headed for the drivers seat but before the girl slid off the hood she looked over. "Hey Jack." He held the door open and stood waiting to see what she had to say. "Did you seriously defend my honor today?"

"Shut the fuck up and get in the car Chick." He rolled his eyes and ducked to sit.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Cal got out to cross over to the driver's side. She was a little dazed still, but that was normal. Jack stood at the front of the car waiting.

"You should ice that thing when you get home," he said.

She snorted a laugh and walked past him. "Yes nurse."

"You gonna be ok?"

She figured she was probably still pretty pale in the face, causing him to worry. "Yeah, I'll be ok." She didn't say fine, he wouldn't believe fine.

He nodded. "Take care of yourself Chick, I'll see you tomorrow."

She smiled and nodded back as she got in to adjust her seat back up. She really wasn't looking forward to going home. How was she going to explain this to her father? With a sigh she pulled the car into gear and headed off. If she stayed near Jack much longer she might not have been able to force herself to leave. Boy was tomorrow's gig going to be fun for everyone. Had Alex learned his lesson yet? What would happen if he hadn't? Ugh… her head hurt, her wrist hurt, she was pissed off and she was scared. She decided when she got home it was off the bathroom for a bubble bath and a beer. Her favorite form of stress relief, besides maybe a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream…maybe she'd pick one of those up on her way through…

………………………………………………………………………………………


	11. Assumptions and Interrogations

Friday morning Evelyn had come home early with a stack of paperwork to fill out. She alternated the sheets with her preparations for whatever too-large dinner she was making. Jack hadn't gotten out of bed much before his mother had gotten home, let alone done anything useful with the first half of the day. He lay on the couch all morning plucking away at his guitar.

When the phone rang around one o'clock he had every intention of ignoring it until he heard "Jackie could you get the phone please?"…but the tone of voice he heard was basically Evelyn's version of 'get your lazy ass off the couch and do something to help around here.' So, setting his instrument aside he walked into the kitchen for the obnoxious piece of machinery. He hated answering the phone, he never knew how to start the conversation. Knowing full well Evelyn would scold him for his greeting he grumbled "Yeah?"

"I'm bored out of my mind, please break the rule!"

"Are you shitting me, Chick?" he was warned to watch his mouth but didn't pay much attention. "No, I can't."

"Liar. I know you don't have anything better to do."

"Yeah, you're right, but I'm not allowed."

"Since when do you follow rules Jack Mercer? Wait, is she there? Is that why you won't?"

"Possibly," toying with her was so much fun.

"I'll talk to her, put her on."

"You're obsessed."

"I'm bored, there's a difference."

"Not much in your case."

"Come on you know you wanna come out and play. Let me talk to your mom."

"Hang on a sec." He lowered the receiver and looked over at the curious old lady. "Cal want's to talk to you." That immediately made her glance at the clock. "She's gonna try to convince you to allow her to skip the rest of her classes."

Evelyn snatched the phone away from her son and calmly lifted it to her ear. "Cal?"

"Miz Mercer please let him come. I promise I'm not skipping anything important. I've got study halls the rest of the day, and I've already finished most of my homework for the weekend. I'm so bored, you have to understand. I'm sitting here letting a random girl French-braid my hair… and I don't even know her name!"

Evelyn was chuckling lowly and watching Jack become as curious as she'd been. "Are you lying to me, young lady?"

"No, I swear! I can come over and show you my schedule and my finished homework if you want. I'll beg you if I have to, I can't stand being here like this when I know I can be doing something else. Please, it's not like we're doing anything bad. I promise I wasn't lying the other day about us not doing anything. We'll probably just grab something to eat and sit around talking for a few hours…." Suddenly she'd either run out of things to say, or run out of breath with which to speak, and her end of the phone was filled with normal classroom babble.

With a smile and a sigh she nodded her head. "Alright," Jack's jaw dropped, "but just this once, do you understand me?"

"REALLY?!" Evelyn had never thought she'd hear this girl squeal like…well, like a girl, but she just had, and she continued. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Yes, but tell me you understand it's only this once."

"Yes, I completely understand. Don't worry, it's getting closer to finals time, I'm getting more and more homework to do, I promise I won't do this gain."

"That's good to hear. Now, I'm going to give the phone back to Jack, but why don't you two stay here. I've got plenty of food so you don't have to spend any extra money. I just won't have that. I've got a few pieces of pie left…" Jack's head was shaking as he held it in his hands, she was totally embarrassing him, and loving every second of it… "And do you want a sandwich, dear."

"I don't want to put you out or anything."

"It's nothing, dear, is ham and cheese alright?"

"That would be outstanding, thank you so much again."

"Of course, now behave yourself. I'm handing over the phone now."

The first words out of Jack's mouth were "How the hell did you do that?"

"I have no idea, but I've apparently talked to the point where I'm out of breath if that makes any sense."

"You're psychotic, why do I agree to hang out with you?"

"Because I'm a fun psycho and I buy you stuff… Did she really agree to let you come?"

"Well, since she's actually making you a sandwich, I'm gonna assume yes."

"Right…wow… I really did not expect that."

"Neither did I. Now if you'll excuse me, I haven't showered yet so I'm gonna go do that before you hurry your ass over here." He was scolded for his language again but he was again too preoccupied to care.

"That's alright, I've gotta sit here and let this girl finish doing my hair before I can get outta here."

"What exactly is she doing with your hair?"

"Aww, Jack are you scared I might ruin my lovely tresses? Don't worry, it's all still here, it's just being braided."

"Good to know. I'm hanging up now," he said, slightly embarrassed that he actually cared what was happening to her hair.

"K, bye." She hung up first. Jack rolled his eyes.

"She seems like a good girl." Evelyn mentioned.

"She's psychotic, and I think she's stalking me." He said jokingly as he headed toward the stairs. "How is it she managed to get hooked on ME? Do I put off the 'follow me around' vibe? Where does that come from, and how can I kill it?"

"She likes you Jackie." She'd had to yell a little to make sure she was heard.

"Don't say that Ma!"

She was still laughing as he tried to drown her out with the shower.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Jack sighed and stomped out his cigarette as Cal's car appeared. She pulled into the driveway and walked over to him smiling like she was impressed with herself. He shook his head and stepped aside to let her in the door. They walked into the kitchen and Jack noticed Evelyn was a little bit shocked at the sight of the girl. Obviously she wasn't what his mother had expected him to bring home, but she was shocked in a good way because, well, she'd pretty much been expecting a tramp to be the only one willing to follow around her baby boy. And the whole 'bartender's daughter' knowledge probably hadn't helped.

Wiping her hands on a dish towel Evelyn finally managed to walk over and give the girl a hug in greeting. Jack saw Cal flinch a little and knew immediately that his mother would pick up on it. But she was holding the girl gently and inspecting her.

"Here, let me take your jacket," she said finally. Cal probably hadn't even remembered that she had a jacket on, but she smiled and slipped it off. Jack got his hands on it before Evelyn.

"I got it Ma." He disappeared into the other room, wondering if he might find Cal's breaking point of fear today. If she flipped out on him, now would be the best time for it that was for sure. Evelyn always knew how to handle stuff like that.

But he could hear the two talking now as if they were friends. Fuck… she was befriending Mom… that meant even if he ever wanted to ditch her she'd be asked about. He slowly made his way around the house into the dining room where he knew they were headed. Evelyn being the prefect homemaker that she was, the sandwiches were already laid out on plates, one at the end of the table, one on the edge next to it.

"I apologize for my mess," Evelyn began, "I brought my work home with me never expecting company."

Cal shook her head as she sunk into the seat Jack pointed her toward. "It's not a problem. Your house is spotless compared to mine."

Oh boy, Evelyn always prided herself on her housekeeping skills. Cal was being a kiss-ass and she didn't even know it. Her motherly-approval points had just skyrocketed…well maybe, except she was claiming to not be a good housekeeper herself. Holy hell, why was he paying attention to what Evelyn thought? Cal wasn't his girlfriend, she didn't have to worry about that kind of approval. He dug into his sandwich, realizing he used food to shut his mind up a lot around Cal…

She was eating too, though not quite as hastily and rudely. She was behaving herself. Damn, she was TRYING to impress Ma. Suddenly he noticed her wrist. She was wearing a light brace on it instead of the simple wrap.

"Your wrist alright," he swallowed a mouthful of sandwich as his mother frowned up from her work.

Cal was caught off guard. "Yeah, it's…" she was gonna say 'fine' but stopped when she remembered who she was dealing with, "it's sprained, but it's better than yesterday."

"And I see you're nose didn't swell up or bruise."

"Just the bridge of it," she admitted. "But it still hurts to the touch."

"Yeah, falling into a car'll do that."

She nearly choked on a bite of sandwich as she laughed. "Indeed."

Jack laughed as well, but noticed Evelyn watching them and waiting patiently for an explanation. "Alex didn't bother you again last night did he?" He was hoping that was enough for his mother, but it appeared to only have deepened her curiosity.

"He called, but I was busy so I didn't have to talk," she took finished off her sandwich and muttered, "luckily."

Jack nodded and suddenly pushed his chair back. "Mom where's the pie?"

"Back of the second shelf." She looked over at Cal as she continued. "There's a slice of apple and a slice of blueberry."

"I call the apple," Jack said as he closed the fridge again.

"Jack!" Her being upset just made him laugh.

"She wants the blueberry anyway, don't worry about it."

Both of them looked over at him in confusion. "Cal if you want the apple feel free to steal it from him."

"No, he's right, I want the blueberry. I just don't quite know **how** he knew that."

"You looked at the pies at Joe's. He has everything except blueberry because he's allergic to them. I," he looked at his mother, "**assumed** that since you didn't order anything from there that that's what you were looking for."

Cal was shocked and impressed. She nodded her head slowly, but then snatched the tin pie plate away from her friend and forked the slice onto her plate. "Blueberry pie happens to be my favorite." She admitted as her first bite hovered in front of her. Her eyes crossed in pleasure as she tasted it. She hadn't had real homemade pie in ages! She heard Jack laughing at her the rest of the time they were eating.

……………………………………………………………………………………...

Evelyn snatched up the dishes, despite Cal's attempt to protest and take on the chore. "Nonsense, you sit and chat."

"Chat, huh," Jack thought up some small talk just to be annoying. "So how did you're little poetry reading go?"

He was being glared at, but she replied "It was alright. I remembered all of it, but I got a ton of points off for talking too fast and not 'looking at the audience.'"

Jack clucked his tongue and shook his head causing her to look away in embarrassment. She began playing with her hair. She took the ties off of the braided pigtails and one by one undid them up to the base of her head. Then even as she tied them off she ran her fingers through it. While she was sidetracked he reached over and grabbed Evelyn's work cell phone. She only had it when she was on duty, and she rarely used it. He figured using it wouldn't hurt. He flipped it open and snapped a picture of Cal. The sound made her turn fast.

"Did you just take a picture of me?"

He smiled. "Maybe."

"Why?"

"Because Bobby still doesn't believe you're a girl," he said.

Cal laughed, but Evelyn was returning from cleaning up the kitchen. He sent the pic as fast as he could, closed the phone and put it back where it had been. He played all innocent when Evelyn looked at him in irritation. "What?" But her look made him give up, like it always did, "I had to try and see if it would shut him up."

"It's not going to work," she said knowingly, "and I could get into trouble for that."

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again, I promise." He was trying not to smile, but he still found the whole thing entertaining.

Cal glanced at her watch to make sure she still had time. She had plenty, but she still looked a bit nervous. Slapping the table a little Jack suggested, "I should ride with you to the bar tonight, it makes sense."

She nodded, "Yeah." She didn't want necessarily want to leave yet because she knew leaving meant going home, but Jack knew she was nervous around family.

"I'll go get my shi…uh…stuff ready." (he almost forgot to censor himself…) He was leaving her with Evelyn again and was a bit afraid for her, but he didn't really have much choice. Evelyn wouldn't want the girl following him up to his room.

………………………………………………………………………………………

"So what exactly happened to you yesterday?" Evelyn asked the question with sincere concern.

"Nothing, really. It's just one of the guys in the band used to be my boyfriend and he got jealous because he though Jack had taken his place."

"But he hasn't?"

"No." Evelyn recognized a tidbit of regret in the short answer, and even more as the girl explained. "No, Jack and I just hang out. It's weird, I didn't think that was possible for guys and girls to do. But really, there's nothing happening between us."

"Are you sure?"

Cal blushed profusely and was looking for a way out of the question. "I…um…well I'm still 17 so really that's stopped everything so far."

"And when will you 18."

"Um, two and a half weeks actually." She was still blushing.

"Oh? So what happens then?"

She was asking extremely calmly and gently but the girl was shaking a little under the pressure of the interrogation. Evelyn knew she had that effect on people, but she also knew she had to try to find this girl's breaking point before her son stumbled upon it.

"Hey," Jack leaned against the frame of the living room doorway. As soon as Cal turned to look at him he said, "Don't let her scare you. She's a pushover."

"Jack!"

"Ma!... You're freakin' her out and she's not even my girlfriend. And you wonder why I never brought girlfriends home in high school. Come on Chick, lets get outta here."

The girl had regained a little of her composure with her friend around to back her up. She said thank you to Evelyn, and waved goodbye like their conversation had really been at an end. The older woman sighed and replied kindly. She really didn't have a choice. As the two youngsters walked out the door Evelyn wondered how long it would be before she got to approve of Cal as a real girlfriend of her son's.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Cal jumped as her cell phone began ringing. She picked it up and glanced at the id. "I do not know this person." She said. Jack leaned over to look and she turned it for him.

"Holy shit, it's Bobby."

"What? How the hell did he get **my** number?"

"I have no idea, but I'm answering it."

"Put it on speaker," she said, trying hard to keep her focus on the road.

"Yeah, I got it, just keep driving before you get us killed Chick." He flipped open the phone and clicked the appropriate button. "What do you want Asshole?"

"Oh you're not her boyfriend but you answer her phone now?"

"She's driving and I recognized your number."

"Whatever, just tell me, was that really a picture of her?"

"Yeah, it definitely was."

"Then why the hell are you not her boyfriend, Faerie?"

"Because I'm still 17 Bobby," Cal cut in, glancing over at her friend.

"Well when the hell are you gonna change that?" He was not at all disturbed by the fact that he was on speakerphone.

"Two and a half weeks, and counting." She blushed as she realized what she was saying.

"Whatta ya think Jackie, can you make it that long."

"Fuck you, man. It's not like that."

"No? Man you really are a Faerie."

Jack was about to yell at his brother, but Cal again took over. "Bobby, trust me, if your brother was remotely gay I wouldn't have had my ex-boyfriend beating me up in jealousy yesterday."

"Woah woah woah, what?"

"You know that jackass Alex, I told you about him."

"I vaguely remember that, yeah."

"He used to date Cal. He came after her yesterday while we were sitting around."

"So which one of you girls did the most damage."

"Fuck you, Bobby. I kicked his ass." Cal cleared her throat reminding him to add, "And Cal got a pretty nice shot in too when he was on his knees begging for her help."

"She can fight, and take a hockey-hit? Damn kid, I don't know whether to congratulate you on good taste, or keep searching for evidence that she's actually a man."

"Yeah, I can assure you there is no physical evidence that I'm a man." Cal defended.

"I don't believe you."

"Fine, don't." she was getting as irritated as Jack. "It doesn't matter what you believe. All that matters is what can be proven."

"What you mean like the fact that Jackie's gay?"

"Shut the fuck up!" But before he was done with the statement Cal reached over and turned off the phone. She was as pissed off now as she had been with Alex. "Sorry." Jack wondered if apologizing was really worth it, but she just kept her staring out ahead of the car and didn't say a word.

The phone rang a few seconds later. "Don't answer it." But Jack ignored her, opting to answer without the speakerphone option instead.

"What?"

"Did she just hang up on me?"

"Yeah, she did. She's pissed Bobby. Like the same amount of pissed as she was at the bastard that beat her up yesterday."

"Spoiled brat, who does she think she is?"

"Bobby, is there a point to you calling back or are you just gonna keep whining like a little bitch?"

"Watch it, Faerie."

"Goodbye Bobby." He closed the phone again, but it rang almost instantaneously. With a sigh he answered again. "One more chance man."

"Why are you not fucking her?!"

Jack hung up without a word. His jaw clenched in anger.

"What did he say?" Cal asked.

"He just asked why I wasn't fucking you…again…"

She laughed a little, but she was still not cooled down.

The phone rang again. Same number. Jack opened the phone but held the power button to turn it off.

"Thank you," she sighed.

"No problem."

They sat in silence for a while, each fuming until they couldn't really remember what they were angry about.

"We're gonna be early." Jack pointed out. "You don't have to go back now if you don't want to. I was just trying to get you away from Mom's scary talk."

"I appreciate it greatly. It seems all your family cares about is whether or not we're having sex."

"Oh god! She was asking about that?"

"Yeah, except the question your brother was asking you, she was asking me."

"Fu…uck." He drew out the word almost separating it into two. "If I'd known that I'd never have left you in there."

"It's alright, you showed up to stop the worst of it."

"Good. God, I'm sorry about them."

She shrugged, but he knew she accepted the apology still in need of more.

"Hey I really did mean we don't have to go back yet."

"There's not enough time to do much of anything. We might as well."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. You should call Alex when we get there though, just to let him know you don't need a ride."

"Yeah…" He wasn't looking forward to that conversation. Come to think of it he wasn't really looking forward to most of the night either.

………………………………………………………………………………………


	12. Steady Hands, Troubled Minds

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Four Brother, still just manipulating them for my own entertainment...**

**Author's note: Well... actually... read first, then I'll talk to you...**

Jack pulled down chairs for Cal, feeling bad about letting her do it with an injured wrist, and watched her check the taps. When he finished he joined her at the bar, bringing his guitar along. He played a little bit of nothingness as he waited for a conversation starter to come to him.

"What's your favorite color?" he asked suddenly.

"Hey that's **my** dumb question!"

"So give me a dumb answer."

"Purple," she admitted, "And I don't have a reason, I just like it."

"Your turn."

"Um…" she chuckled to herself, "Let's try this one. If you could be an inanimate object what would you be?"

He fake coughed and uttered psycho underneath it. "Where did you come up with that?"

"I was asked that in second grade. My answer was really cheesy. I said a stapler because then I could hold things together. Hmm, I wonder what I was thinking about," she rolled her eyes and continued. "So how about you?"

"Well I was thinking possibly a bra," he threw out, making her laugh. "But it would have to be a bra that was used specifically for modeling er something… otherwise I'd have the misfortune of ending up on some fat ass old lady and…" He shuddered.

"Nice Jack."

"Hey, you asked."

"Yeah I should have known you'd think of something like that."

"Yeah you shoulda. So, has your outlook changed since second grade? What object to you strive to be like now?"

She blushed suddenly and turned to pull a couple of glasses out. "You can't steal my question."

"Why are you avoiding it?" He was really curious now.

"I…don't feel like proving myself to be a girl at the moment."

"Oh, now you gotta tell me."

"No."

Woo, he must have hit a nerve. That was the only time he remembered her ever flat out saying no to anything. "Alright fine, I'll think of another question."

"Thank you."

Before he could say anything else there was a pounding on the back door. Cal glanced at her watch and sighed. "Fuck." Jack was getting up and heading for the back. "Jack, I can get it."

"But you'd rather not, and I'd rather put off beating the shit out of Alex until after we do a couple songs, so I'm going to go let them in." She smiled and pulled his guitar onto the bar as he handed it over. He couldn't help but realize he'd just voluntarily handed over his guitar to a **girl**, something he'd never ever done before. No one touched his guitar… not even Evelyn. What was wrong with this picture?...

Alex had been stunned when Jack answered the door, and immediately tried to stir up trouble. God that boy was a dumb ass. But he held off for a while, even after they played their set. He was preoccupied with booze and looser women for a while. Jack didn't bother staying close to Cal anymore. It was a really busy night, he didn't need to be bothering her. But he did not let Alex out of his sight for more than a few seconds at a time.

Then the night suddenly fell apart.

First, the band got a bit bored, so they did a random encore…during which Alex decided to announce the one thing Jack had never mentioned to Cal: the fact that the band was leaving in two weeks. He could have strangled the fucking loud mouth right then and there. To his utter shock however Cal seemed impressed at this news and smiled and cheered and clapped with the rest of the crowd (and by clapping of course it is meant that she slapped the counter with her one good hand…)

But then, before Jack had a chance to talk to the girl, Alex was trying to teach an unwilling him a new game at the pool table. Because he wasn't paying attention Alex decided they needed to actually show him how to play the game. Unfortunately only one other person knew how to play…

"Callie, get over here, we gotta teach your fuck-buddy how to play Steady Hands."

At the mention of the game the girl panicked a little. "I…uh, I can't, Alex." She was beginning to realize she couldn't use her job as an excuse because her father was kicking people out. But she held up her arm and pointed to the brace.

"Calla go play, but then they have to leave alright?"

"No, dad, they can leave now, really…"

"Go finish whatever Alex is asking you to finish."

Defeated, she walked cautiously toward the pool table. She snatched a specific stick off the rack and used even more caution as she stepped toward Alex. The son of a bitch was smiling the entire time. And then Jack figured out why.

You see, Steady Hands is played with two person teams. Each team has to work together to hit the balls… and they work together closely…very…very closely. Cal stretched out to aim the cue… Alex, with his hands everywhere except the cue, was supposedly helping her.

Jack was furious…at Alex for being a sick bastard, and at himself for letting Cal get dragged into the situation. His entire body was clenched up. He nearly bit himself as he tried not to lash out against his bandmate. His knuckles were white around the stick he gripped. God, he was such a fucking idiot. How could he just stand there like that? She was probably wondering the same thing. He'd saved her before, right… so why not now?

But when they took their practice shot and Alex kept her half bent over the table she looked up at Jack with a face that was anything but blame.

"Right," Alex was explaining, "Every time you miss your mark or sink the cue ball you have to drink. If you hit, you can choose to drink or not. But if you sink the eight ball early, you have to down an entire beer. And if you win the game, well, winner takes all." His hands never left the sides of the table, pinning Cal in front of him, but she'd had enough and pulled away, using the excuse of getting them drinks for the game.

"You playin' Baby?"

Cal flushed a little and sighed as she popped the tops off the beers. She walked back over with a stronger step and placed one beer in front of Alex. "If I play," she said, staring at the rather drunk young man, "It will only be a fair game if I'm not on your team. You can't have the only two people who know the game on the same team, that's uneven." She took a swig of the second beer, grabbed her favorite stick and walked to the same side of the table as Jack.

Oh god… this was bad… They'd all been drinking all night, Jack and Alex both had tempers, and now Cal was expecting him to do what? He couldn't… Just the thought of… not that he didn't want to…oh god did he want to… but… 17…leaving…friends… this was a disaster… Nervously he allowed Cal to wrench the second stick out of his hands and pass it across the table to her infuriated ex-boyfriend. When he hesitated to grab it Jack found himself hoping the girl would wail it against his skull… He deserved it after all he'd put her through before, and now this!

Stepping back, Jack leaned on the table and looked over at his teammate. "You don't have to do this." He said. "I'll make him leave right now if you want."

She smiled as she replied "But where's the fun in that?"

"Cal, I'm begging you, please don't make me do this."

"No one's forcing you to do anything, Jack. You can leave any time you want."

No he couldn't… he couldn't leave her at the mercy of that bastard across the table. He'd be all over her the second Jack was out of sight. And she knew it. The fact that she suggested he could leave really just meant that she trusted him not to.

She suddenly leaned down on her elbows to be face to face with him. He felt himself nervously gulp a little, completely unnerved by the fact that their faces were less than three inches apart. "Jack, we can piss him off, kick his ass, and make him **mad** jealous all at the same time… tell me that's not the least bit tempting."

Not as tempting as kissing you…NO … fuck… but it was tempting… but… it was **wrong**, on **so** many levels… He could so get arrested for this… not to mention Evelyn would kill him if she ever found out…

But before he could get his thoughts in order Alex and some random bimbo were taking their first shot.

Oh god… this wasn't happening… dream… nightmare… what the fuck was he feeling?... fuck, no he couldn't do this… but he couldn't get out of it either…

Cal was smiling slyly as she hopped off the other table to start their turn. Somehow he managed to trap her in front of himself like Alex had. His face was less than an inch from the back of her head. He was gonna lose his nerve… But she turned so he could see her nothing but her cheek. "Relax Jack," she whispered. "This is going to work. Do you trust me?"

Hell no he didn't trust her… but he nodded a little anyway.

She noticed he was still just as tense. "Jack, listen to me… You listening?"

"Yeah," he practically squeaked.

"I can't bend my right wrist, remember?" He nodded again. "The rules are you have to touch either me or the stick. Put your right hand on the stick." He obeyed slowly. "The left hand is up to you Jack."

How the hell did she expect him to think for himself in a situation like this? Taking a deep breath he opted to sink his thumb into her pocket. Funny, the place he'd stayed away from only a day ago was now the place he felt safe touching.

She leaned forward, bumping into him a little. She felt him tense up and glanced over her shoulder, trying to hide a smile. But she was focused on the game now. She noticed his flimsy movement with the stick so her injured hand crept over his… oh bad… touching was bad… he couldn't do this…

She took the shot, it was a little off so they had to drink. She went first and passed it to him behind her back, not bothering to look. He could have downed it and three more… He was miserable.

Their second shot was taken in much the same position, but this time their hit was much more solid. They sunk a ball, the first of the game, but Jack opted to drink anyway. Cal didn't argue, but she was still unsuccessfully hiding a smile. But after their third shot (a miss) she shook out her crippled wrist with a wince.

She expected him to move back like he had each time before, but instead he only took half a step and held her. With a sudden boldness he put his chin over her shoulder and whispered angrily. "Stop this."

As she turned toward him her cheek touched his and they both flinched a little. "What?"

Pissed off beyond all belief he yanked the stick from her injured hand and tried not to make it sound too harsh when he commanded "Give me your hand." His other arm snuck under hers and waited for her compliance. Slowly she let the braced arm settle across her middle. It was held fast with Jack's firm grip. "Are you listening?" he mimicked her a little, hoping she'd get the point. "I don't give a rat's ass if we win or lose this game. But I'll be damned if you're going to fuck up your wrist just to irritate the dumb ass who won't remember by the end of next week. Since I know you have no intention of giving up I'll let you finish this, but you're **not** using that hand. Understood?"

She swallowed hard but nodded. During the course of their conversation it had become their turn again. They took the shot and missed by far since they were both in a bit of a rush to back away. Cal hurried over to the bar to grab more beer. Jack could tell he'd scared her and he hated it, but it was the only way to stop her from hurting herself. Not to mention allowing himself to be angry was keeping his mind off of…other nameless feelings that he most certainly did not experience around this 17 year old friend of his…

They took another shot and sunk another ball. They were tied with Alex and his whore now, but it didn't matter. Jack couldn't take this any more. As they aimed again he saw his way out, and it was in the form of a little black ball.

He hit the cue ball wrong on purpose, making it not only send the eight ball into a pocket, but having the scuffed up white ball follow suit. Game over.

Cal had tensed when she felt him twist the stick away from where she had carefully aimed. He was sure there was a look of disbelief on her face, but he was glad he couldn't see it. He pulled her upright, tossed the stick on the table and wrapped his arm around the girl's chest. He chugged a good bit of the new beer and set it back on the edge of the table. She lived here, she could finish it later. Now sufficiently provided with courage he pressed his forehead to the back of her head. He could smell her flowery shampoo more strongly than he ever imagined he would and for a moment his lack of brain function allowed him to enjoy it. Then he remembered why he'd pulled her so close. He wanted to talk to her… so many things could be said here… should be said here… but he couldn't make himself do it.

"I'm sorry," was what he managed first in a whisper. "This is all fucked up. I should have told you about the leaving. I shouldn't have let him drag us into this…fucking game."

She willed her neck to turn farther, she wanted to look at him so badly, but she could do nothing. "Jack, don't." The whimper in her voice nearly killed his resolve. "Not like this."

"Too late, Chick." He let go of her and followed Alex out the door. The night had ended. He knew he'd done the right thing. But he still felt dead inside.

**Author's Note (really): Don't worry, It's no where near over. I'm not THAT mean. But now you do have to suffer and wait for me to write the next chappie to see what happens...mwahaha... right anyway... it's now 2 am, so I'm going to bed, but I promise I'll start work on this again tomorow sometime, and I'm leaving for home in a day and a half so I'll have quite a bit of time... as long as my brain cooperates we should be good for another two or three chappies in the next week or so...**


	13. Leaving

**Disclaimer: Blah blah don't own blah blah**

**Author's note: So yeah I randomly decided to add song lyrics to the beginnings of chapters now, you're welcome to ignore them completely if you want. Anyway, so yeah here's the first chapter I punched out while on break. It's really long, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad one, you'll have to let me know. Reviews are always appreciated. Enjoy!...**

Things are changing  
It seems strange and  
I need to figure this out  
You've got your life  
I got mine  
But you're all I cared about  
Yesterday we were laughing  
Today I'm left here asking  
Where has all the time gone now  
I'm left alone somehow  
Growing up and getting older  
I don't want to believe it's over

Don't say goodbye  
Cause I don't wanna hear those words tonight  
Cause maybe it's not the end for you and I  
And although we knew  
This time would come for me and you  
Don't say anything tonight  
If you're gonna say goodbye

Do you remember  
In December  
How we swore we'd never change  
Even though you're leaving  
That our feelings  
Would always stay the same  
I wish we could be laughing  
Instead I'm standing here asking  
Do we have to end this now  
Can we make it last somehow  
We both know what we've gotta say, not today  
Cause I don't wanna leave this way

And if it's over  
It hurts but I'm giving you my word  
I hope that you're always  
Happy like we were  
Happy like we were…

**From: Say Goodbye - Skillet**

Cal was almost glad that her classes were starting to get more intense. It helped the two weeks to go by without her notice. Or at least she wouldn't have noticed if Alex hadn't come in for one last Friday night.

She knew she should try to fight him off, make him leave. But he was civil enough for most of the night. It wasn't until he was the last person around that he suddenly became himself. He tried to reel her in like he used to. When he reached for her she pulled away, a reflex and a mistake she knew better than to make. He was drunk and now pissed off.

She could feel every old bruise as he slammed her against the wall. She tried to apologize, explain that she didn't mean to. He wasn't listening. He gripped the top of her throat hard to hold her in place. He was cursing her out… it was like a flashback. But it wasn't, it was happening again. She'd thought maybe it was over. If he was leaving she could have been free of him for good.

Her instincts made her fight, grab at his hand around her throat, try to get away. She knew better deep down, but it never seemed to help stop her from fighting. In the end it gained her some more bruises and split lip.

As soon as he let go she felt herself sliding to the floor. He'd let her go a lot easier than she expected. Maybe he figured he should leave something for if he ever came back. She would have prayed that he didn't, but if he stayed away chances were the rest of the band stayed with him…. Not that it mattered now.

She licked her bleeding lip and leaned her head back against the wall. Her life sucked. It had sucked since she was seven years old. She should be used to it by now.

The rest of the night would be quiet though, she figured. She had nothing to do. And Alex wouldn't be back the next night. He never showed up after he'd done something to her. Not for a few days or so and in a few days he would be gone. Gone for months. Finally.

Ugh, she needed something else to think about. Stumbling her way upstairs she barely remembered changing into her pjs. She needed to shoot something. She'd played Duck Hunt last, it was still hooked up, it would definitely solve the problem. She went three rounds without missing a shot, and the first shot she missed was purposefully aimed at the damned annoying dog.

It was near 4 am when she finally fell back on the couch in her apartment style room, the remote for her stereo in hand. There was no way she could fall asleep without a little coaxing. Tomorrow was Saturday. She could sleep on and off until around noon. Not that she ever slept for more than a few hours a night. She was always paranoid about upsetting someone, especially after she'd gotten it.

She realized her tongue had been playing with her sore lip and immediately stopped. Her lips pressed together in embarrassment. Why was this happening now, and all at once? She couldn't take it. While the music played trying to lull her to sleep all she could think about was how everything was going wrong again.

Before she realized what she was doing she was standing over the bathroom sink…bleeding. Looking at the razorblade in her other hand she dropped it, panicked. She hadn't done that in years, or at least one year… maybe it had only been one… but still.

She flopped down on the toilet, eyes wide, completely and totally horrified. She grabbed the oozing cut with the other hand now, but pulled back after a minute. That wrist still hurt from the sprain two weeks before. She'd probably taken the brace off too soon, but she didn't care at the time. She was sick of not having her full range of motion. Desperate now she sucked the worst of the dripping off her other wrist before grabbing a washcloth to drape over it. She was so stupid! How could she have fallen into this again. She was almost 18 years old, there was no excuse for this behavior. She knew better.

She felt tears start to roll down her cheeks and that just made it worse. She didn't cry… she refused to cry. Crying was for kids and pussies. She was neither. Not anymore. But everything hurt. Her head from the being slapped around, her body from the bruises, her arms for their respective injuries, and her chest now from the trying not to sob. She failed miserably. She had to stay quiet or her father would hear her, but she was all but wailing. In her frustration she vaguely remembered punching the door as she left the room. It killed. She knew she was going to need the brace again in the morning, but now she needed to collapse onto her bed and wallow in self pity. Sometimes it just needed to be done and she hadn't done it in ages. Not since, well, since she'd had Jack to take her away. But now he was leaving her too…

No, she scolded herself. He was not leaving her. He was pursuing his dream. And besides, he was taking Alex with him. But still… after graduation she'd have so much free time and no one to spend it with.

Ah!... She already missed him. He wasn't even gone yet! They weren't dating, they were just friends, she had no hold on him. For Christ's sake, he hadn't even spoken to her in two weeks.

She'd fucked it up with him bad. She should have never given in to playing that damn game. But she'd had him around her even if only for those few short minutes. How had she allowed herself to fall so hard for him? She'd just wanted someone to hang with, someone to talk to. But then he went and protected her. He made her go soft around Alex and her father because he was there to make it better. She was such a fool. And now that he was gone she'd suddenly gone back to cutting? What the fuck was that shit all about?

The tears were stopping, but she was beating on her pillows. This in turn caused more pain and more crying. This is how she fell asleep. Her pillow covered in blood and tears, pain coursing up both arms until she couldn't move them any more. But she slept, and she slept better than she had the previous two weeks.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Jack peeled his rollerblades off as he sat on the front steps. Angel had been playing a game of street hockey with him, but of course Sofie took priority, so now Jack was out of luck. It sucked. He was already packed to leave in the morning. For some reason Alex and the others decided that Monday would be the best day to leave… fuckin' crack heads. So now he had the rest of Sunday to kill. He finished tying on his shoes and stood to take his blades to the garage before he noticed her walking up the street. He chose to ignore her and continued what he'd been trying to do. Maybe she wasn't really there. Maybe she had really listened to him at the bar. It had been more than two weeks now, why would she come here?

But she had come. She leaned on the back corner of the house when he came back out of the garage. She had a half assed attempt at a smile on her face. Something was wrong… But he wasn't going to get involved now. He was leaving in the morning. He didn't need to know what was happening to her.

The problem was he already knew. He knew by the look on her face that she'd gotten the shit kicked out of her. She was here because he'd been there for the last one. As he slowly trudged across the driveway he shoved his hands in his pockets and could look at her. But he couldn't make himself leave either. He felt guilty enough not saying anything.

"Are we not speaking now?"

Those were her first words to him in two weeks. Not 'you left me you fucking bastard', not even 'hi Jack…' She was talking like nothing had happened.

"I meant what I said the other night Cal."

Her smile grew in strength a little. "I know you did Jack, because you expected that I was a typical girl. Unfortunately for you I was expecting that long before it happened. That's why I wasn't afraid to press my luck."

Jack could feel himself getting more upset with each thing she said. He tried to walk past her into the house. If he could just get the door closed between them she'd probably go away.

"Alex showed up for one last hurrah Friday."

He stopped dead in his tracks. The offhanded way in which she mentioned the occurrence was most definitely an attempt to mask her true feelings about it. He'd been assuming her depression had been because of her father… he'd been wrong, and now her being here made all the more sense. "What did he do?" He'd turned around, faced her like she'd probably wanted. But now she was avoiding looking at him.

"Nothing he hasn't done before."

"Cal, what did he do?"

"He just smacked me up a little. I think I did more damage to myself afterwards."

Ok, now he was confused. "What?"

She shrugged, having lost all her nerve. "I don't want to talk about it Jack."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because I needed a distraction," she'd raised her voice a little, and regretted it immediately.

She tried to go around the corner and leave, but he grabbed her wrist. That stopped her alright… and sent her to her knee hissing in pain! Stunned, Jack turned over her wrist and opened his fingers, now covered in blood. "Fuck, Chick!"

"I told you I did more damage than he did. I ended up putting myself back in the brace too." She lifted the other wrist to show him.

"Doing what?"

"Wa… I got pissed off at myself for the cutting so.. I guess I kinda punched the wall."

She was a fucking mess! He couldn't let her leave like this. He was still holding her bleeding wrist so he slapped his hand into hers and started dragging her into the house. "Come on."

"No, Jack…"

She was scared that someone else would see them, namely Evelyn of course. God forbid Evelyn knew she had imperfections. But Jack didn't let go. He pulled her all the way up the stairs and into the bathroom so he could grab something to help her. He sat on the toilet after running a washcloth under water. She was shaking her head as he wiped off her arm. He taped a gauze pad over the two perfect slices and then finally let go of her hand.

She rolled the sleeves of her sweatshirt down, even though they'd been rolled up outside when he grabbed her. It was freakishly warm for halfway through April. They should both be doing something outside. Actually, technically they should both be working shitty ass jobs trying to survive on their own… yeah that wasn't happening.

As soon as Jack looked up at her she looked the other way. "What, you didn't think I'd figure it out?" He tore at the leather wristband he always wore and showed her some of the many self inflicted scars. "You picked a bad person to try to hide it from, Chick."

She blushed a little, but started backing toward the door. Her sad almost-smile had returned. "I uh…"

"What did you really come here for?" He was watching her carefully, but didn't move to stop her.

"I told you," she said a bit shakily, "I came for a distraction, but obviously I'm not going to get one here."

"You do realize I'm leaving tomorrow, right?"

She bowed her head with a slightly pissed off smile. "Yes, you cocky bastard, I know that."

"Yeah? So what happens when I'm gone?"

"I won't have any reason to misbehave now will I?" She finally turned out the door. She kept walking away.

It wasn't until he heard the front door close behind her that he felt the sudden urge to follow her. And follow he did, bolting down the stairs and erupting from the house. "You came all the way here and you can't even give me a decent goodbye." He knew she'd be pissed off with that, but it was exactly what she needed. Anger at him was anger away from herself.

She spun around and glared at him. "You're one to fucking talk, Jack! If you'd had your way you'd have gone off without ever another word to me. You expected that you had to leave, because you expected that I was like any one of those fucking bimbos you'd known before. You thought that completely ending whatever the fuck it is we have would be easier than saying goodbye."

"No," They were suddenly in the middle of a yelling battle in the front lawn. Jack tried to quiet down and walked toward her. "I did what I did because you are absolutely nothing like the trash I've been with before and I don't want to be responsible for fucking you up any more than you already are. I decided on that while I was drunk and desperate for a way out. In all honesty I was afraid of what might have happened if we won that game."

They were too close now, she recognized it and stepped back before speaking again. "I didn't come here for an apology… or a goodbye. I didn't even come here to show you that you can't get rid of me that easily. I really did just come here because you're the only person that has ever allowed me to completely forget the fact that if I do something wrong at home I'm gonna get hurt, and if I make Alex jealous or angry I'm gonna get hurt. Even when I was in the middle of getting the shit kicked out of me two weeks ago, I was more pissed off and less scared than I have ever been. Jack, you're the only friend I've got that can do that and I needed it, if only one last time."

He hung his head in defeat. There was no getting away from this now. He'd helped her physically, but he'd really just made things worse. "What do you want from me?"

"One more day, Jack. Let's just do something, anything. I don't care where we go, or even how late we stay there. I don't have to work tonight, I can be home as late as I want and I don't want to go home. For all I care we can go somewhere and just sit around, but I want to go and I want to go with you."

Her friend nodded after a few seconds. It was only one more day. There was no escaping the leaving in the morning, and he did have to be back for his final dinner with Ma that night. "How did you get here?"

The sigh she heaved was gigantic and it brought a relieved smile to her face. "I parked at the pizzeria."

Glancing at the house he asked "You got your phone?"

"Of course, why?"

"I gotta let Ma know why I'm not around."

She handed over the phone immediately and he called and left a simple message on the machine that he could almost hear from the street. He handed the phone back and tugged at her shoulder. She flinched a little more than usual but he ignored it and said "Come on Chick, you get your one more day, lets not waste it standing here."

………………………………………………………………………………………

They'd walked into the pizzeria without having verbally decided on it. They'd been talking about what exactly the band had planned (which wasn't really much of anything, since none of them had been all that aware of anything when they'd made the plans.) Cal looked up to see if she wanted any food.

"You paying again, Chick?"

"Of course," She shrugged as they walked up to the counter. She ordered a cookies and cream milkshake and let Jack order for himself. Apparently he'd liked her idea and ordered an ice cream cone. He got his first, and while Joe was blending the milkshake he started a conversation.

"I was starting to think I'd never see this one again Jack."

The younger man blushed and clenched his jaw. "She's still too young for you Joe," he tried to take the attention off of himself.

"She's too young for you too kid."

It was Cal's turn to blush as she accidentally uttered aloud "Not tomorrow."

Jack sighed, understanding completely that she hadn't meant to say it. But it was still a really really bad thing to happen at the moment it did. They'd just blocked their previous bad conversation (or really, fight) out of their heads… now there was bound to be another one coming. But the girl snatched at her milkshake when it was laid on the counter, using food to shut herself up… gee that was a familiar technique. She pulled a small wad of bills from her back pocket and didn't bother waiting for her change before she went to the door. She held it open with her hip and foot and waited for Jack to follow her lead and leave. But he stuck out his hand first, and waited for the fat Italian man to fork over the cash before rolling his eyes and leaving.

Cal didn't bother getting in the car. She went around and sat on the hood instead. She'd totally fucked herself over with her comment in there. Now she couldn't think of any way to start a conversation. She wanted to apologize, but she knew Jack didn't need her to. Frustrated, she laid back on the hood. She was about to rest her milkshake on her belly when Jack slapped her dollar and some odd change there.

"Happy early birthday," he said in a much more light hearted manner than she'd expected. He sat down beside her and munched on his cone as she laughed.

"Thanks," she shoved the money in her pocket, "I should save it and sell it on Ebay when you're all famous and shit."

They both laughed a little and continued on with their ice cream. He finished quickly and leaned back on his elbows. But looking up he immediately said "The view here sucks… Keys."

"Where're we going?"

"It's not far, I'll make you walk if I have to."

Sighing she sat up, sucked some more milkshake, and delved into her pocket for the keys. "Whatever shall I do without someone to chauffer me around the city now?"

He snatched the keys and got in the car. As she got in he finally replied. "You should pay attention while I'm driving, it might keep you alive a little longer."

"Shut up, Jack, I'm not that bad." As he was about to reply they both jolted, he'd hit the curb trying to pull away. Cal snorted into her milkshake and pressed her hand against her mouth in an attempt to not spit it everywhere. "You sure you don't want me to drive?"

"Shut up."

………………………………………………………………………………………

Cal had immediately moved back to the hood, leaning on her elbows. Jack was right, the view was way better here. There was more sky. "You bring all the hot girls you know here Jack?"

He laughed, leaning back and taking the cigarette out of his mouth. "Who's being cocky now, Chick?"

"Oh so I'm not hot?"

"I didn't say that, and trust me, if that's what I meant I'd have said it."

"Good to know." She sat watching the clouds for a minute before adding, "Nice job avoiding the question, by the way."

He didn't like being accused like that…"The truth is, Chick, I never took any of the others anywhere besides the van, the bathroom, or occasionally a bedroom."

She chuckled, "Man whore."

"Don't even start. Between you and Bobby it's a wonder I'm not seeking therapy."

"You don't have to, you live with Evelyn."

"Good point," he laughed again. Evelyn was all the therapy he could ever handle.

After a few more minutes of silence Cal decided to blurt out "You gonna miss this place?"

Jack tossed his cigarette and laid all the way back. "Some of it. It might be nice to get away from the name for a while."

"Ah, yeah…"

"It's gonna be nice to be on my own for a while though."

"You're lucky."

"You could leave if you really wanted to," Jack said a tad angrily.

"Yeah, if I wanted to be looking over my shoulder the rest of my life."

He didn't reply. He knew he shouldn't have responded to it like that. She looked over at him with a smile. As she slyly turned away she elbowed him. "You gonna miss **me**, Jack?"

He smiled a little, "I haven't decided yet."

"Oh, ouch, that hurts dude," she joked.

"God, you really are a man aren't you…"

"Alright, that's even worse," she turned onto her side and poked him hard in the arm.

"Ow, alright, I take it back. Only a girl would poke like that."

She threatened to poke him again and he flinched away, making her laugh. "Pussy."

"Yeah, whatever," he crossed his arms beneath his head, protecting the now slightly sore spot from another attack.

Cal turned over onto her back again but stayed propped up on her elbows. As always, she was ready with a topic change. "So how did you know there was a better view here?"

He started pulling out another cigarette. "I used to walk out here all the time when I was a kid, just to get away. I stopped when I got a little older, but one day I got into it really bad with some kids at school. Then to top it off I was probably the highest I've ever been. My brothers would have kicked my ass, so I just kept walking. Somehow I ended up here, lying on that bench over there. I stayed there 'till I realized I wasn't high any more."

"Damn, what was that like.. days?"

"Fuck you, Chick," he laughed.

"That had to have been the worst case of the munchies ever."

"You have no idea."

"You'd be surprised."

"I still find it hard to believe you ever did shit like that."

"Yeah well, a teenage girl will do just about anything to make a guy stay with her."

"If only it were that easy to ditch the bastard, huh?"

"Exactly. You'd think stopping everything he got me into would be enough of a hint."

"Not for that dumb ass."

"I was a fucking idiot."

"At least you wised up."

"Yeah, maybe."

"I'll kick his ass a few times, don't worry."

"Thanks."

"No problem. I'd have wanted to anyway, you're the best excuse I could ask for."

"Gee you're so sweet Jack."

"I know." He tossed away the second cigarette and sighed a little. He was relaxed, but at the same time completely unnerved. He wondered if he would always feel like this around her. If he weren't leaving he might have tried to start something with her. She was pretty much the perfect girl for him, there was little question of that. But he was leaving, and he couldn't have taken leaving her if they'd had anything more than this. When the band first discussed leaving he'd toyed around with the idea of inviting her to come… but Alex fucked over that idea. Still, as much as he hated to admit it, he was really gonna miss her. He suddenly blurted out, "You gonna be able to take care of yourself while I'm gone Chick?"

She blushed a little and smiled. "I'll do my best."

"Should be easier, since I'm taking half the problem with me."

"Indeed." She tried to crack the knuckles of the hand stiffened by the brace. Anything to make the cramped feeling go away. There was another silence, this one possibly the longest they'd ever shared. Cal's mind wandered all through places it should have stayed away from. "You wanna know the strangest thing?"

It was kind of a rhetorical question, but he replied anyway. "What's that?"

"The day we first hung out… that was January 30th. That was the 10th anniversary of my mother's leaving."

Jack was at a loss for words. This was a completely irrelevant piece of information, and it was depressing. What was he supposed to say to that? He knew by the look on her face that she wasn't expecting much of a response. She'd just thrown the information out there, an interesting fact of sorts. And it was interesting, considering the two people involved were the only two who had ever protected Cal. But it wasn't exactly the best note to hit on when they might never see each other again. …Would that really happen? There was probably no way she would leave town, not without coaxing. But maybe at college she'd meet someone that could pull her away. Jack didn't know when he'd be back. He'd come back, he was sure of that much. As long as Evelyn was here he had to. But how hard would he have to look in order to find Cal?

He wished he could guarantee her a good boyfriend, someone to really take care of her, get her out of here. It would be a hell of a lot better for her to be gone and never see him again. Watching her now he knew he'd have taken her along if Alex wasn't in the picture. She'd have had a kick-ass time… and she'd have been safe. But life wasn't that simple.

Suddenly, the crazy ass girl rolled to hover above him. He rose to lean on his elbows, trying to get away from her. This was bad… worse than the damn pool game. Way too close. His rising up didn't help. He couldn't get out without touching her, and if he tried she'd probably just have pulled him back anyway. "What the fuck are you doing Cal?"

She smirked when she heard him use her real name, but she looked up and waited for their eyes to lock before speaking. "If I had been 18 that night, would you have tried to win the game?"

"In other words would I have fucked you?" Jack didn't want to be pissed off because he knew it wouldn't help, but he was definitely pissed. She just barely blushed at his return and gave a small nod. Her eyes never left his. …God, why was he so turned on by this… this was wrong and it couldn't happen. "No"

She gave a quiet laugh out her nose and smiled. "You're a God-dammed liar Jack Mercer."

He stopped looking at her… he had to. But apparently she'd had a plan, and he hadn't stopped her. She leaned forward and he immediately knew what she was doing. "Don't!" But she'd already attached herself to his neck. When she decided she'd sufficiently left her mark she let go, but didn't move back. He could feel her breathe slowly against his neck and jaw before she finally whispered to him.

"Good luck Jack. Have fun." She slid off the hood leaving him there breathing sporadically to the point of near hyperventilation. He hadn't even gotten off the car when she started it up.

So this was how it was going to end? She'd given him part of what he'd forbidden himself and now she was going to do the leaving before he could. He probably should have stopped her, tried to make this a little less insane. He couldn't, he let her go, but he knew if he ever came back he wasn't letting her get away with that again.


	14. Surrender

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Four Brothers...**

**Author's Note: K, so this one has two songs, one at the beginning, one at the end... I was bored, what can I say... Everyone should be pretty psyched by the end of this chappie I think, it's kinda what you've all been waiting for so enjoy, and I'll try to have another chappie up in the next two or three days.**

I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away  
I keep your photograph, I know it serves me well  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

'Cause I'm broken when I'm open  
And I don't feel like I am strong enough  
'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome  
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

The worst is over now and we can breathe again  
I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away  
There's so much left to learn, and no one left to fight  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

**From: Broken – Seether**

It was fucking freezing (not that that was strange for January). Every normal human being in the city was either inside, or hurrying to get there. But not Jack. Jack sat on the bleachers outside a school he'd never attended. He was smoking cigarettes galore and trying to think. He didn't know why he was there. If he was looking for her she wasn't going to be there. She'd be off at college, and there was no way he'd find her in a campus full of students. It didn't make any sense. None of his thinking made any sense lately.

"I think it's a little cold for your short-skirted girlies today."

Though caught off guard he was able to reply with a small smile, "Except for one apparently." What he slowly turned to see was not at all what he'd been prepared for. She'd traded in her old jacket for a long wool one. From what he could tell it covered a pair of dress pants and her boots had a bit of a heel to them. It was weird. Her hair was half pulled back, but was free enough to be everywhere, the only part of her that was exactly like he remembered. Except maybe her walk. Even in heels and balancing on a bleacher she still almost managed the same walk.

"Did you miss me Jack?" She sat down next to him, but not as close as she might have dared a year

"A little," he admitted. Truth be told he hadn't really had time to miss her until he got home. But he'd thought of her every now and again, usually at the least convenient times. But enough of that…"What are you doing here?"

"I was bored, and I figured you'd be around here somewhere."

"How'd you know we were back?" He knew it was a stupid question and would have taken it back if he could.

"Uh, that would be Alex's fault."

"Yeah I kinda figured that out after I asked." She laughed a little. "So what's college like?" There was no way he was gonna let Alex ruin this already.

"Not as bad as I thought it would be," she shrugged. "There are some pretty kick ass classes."

"You nerd."

"Hey, just because I enjoy learning about something…" She trailed off, "Ok shut up."

He laughed as he blew out smoke and tossed the cigarette. "What are you going for anyway?" Amazingly enough he'd never figured out what she wanted to do with her life.

"Well the long complicated name is Communications somethingerother, I don't even know… Basically I wanna film and edit stuff."

"Sounds fun."

"It is. Unfortunately it's also expensive and dad's starting to get a bit peeved."

"Oh poor rich kid."

"Geez, no sympathy." She smiled through her sarcasm.

"Not after what you did a year ago."

"Oh you crybaby. You already had one on the other side, it needed a match."

"Bullshit."

"Yeah alright, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done it."

"No you shouldn't have, but you're not sorry."

"No I'm not sorry about it… Sorry I didn't do it earlier maybe…" She muttered the last part.

"Stop."

"Jack, what the fuck are you afraid of?" He didn't reply. "You can't do any harm to me that hasn't already been done."

"You'd probably be surprised."

"You're a fucking coward."

"Maybe." There was no point in flat out denying it, he did feel like a bit of a coward.

"We were just barely able to keep things together back then, you realize that right? So what happens now?"

"Nothing." He still felt awkward making a move on her. She was still the same kid, even if she tried to dress like an adult. Heels and slacks meant nothing, she was still the stupid kid that took a complete stranger to play laser tag. She was still the spoiled brat that took on his big brothers like they were nothing to fear. …Dammit, this wasn't helping him stay away from her. All of that just made him want her more.

"I'm not going to fight you about this Jack." She stood up and hopped down to the next row. She'd given up already. He watched her walk to the edge of the school, but as she disappeared around the corner that damn feeling came over him again. It only took a few more seconds for him to jump up and follow her.

……………………………………………………………………………………...

Cal shivered as she touched the door of the car. She hadn't been thinking clearly enough to get her keys out before she got there. She clenched her fists in an attempt to warm them up before she reached into her pocket.

"What do you want me to say?"

His voice stopped her. She held her pocket for a few seconds, closing her eyes. She honestly didn't know what she wanted him to say. Was there anything he should be saying? But he didn't wait for her reply to continue.

"You want me to admit that being around you scares the shit out of me most of the time? Or how about the fact that every time I talked to a girl while I was gone I ended up comparing her to you?"

He was still walking toward her, she could see it out of the corner of her eye. A little scared she forced herself to turn around. He hadn't stopped talking.

"You're the closest to the perfect girl I've ever known Chick." He very obviously hated himself for saying that, but continued to the next thought anyway. "There is not one thing in my life I haven't fucked up, I want you to know that. Nothing."

She nodded, completely understanding that feeling. But she hadn't finished her nods before his hand slipped around the back of her neck. She didn't have time to flinch as he kissed her. He may have expected her to pull back a little, but she did no such thing. Her hands held his face for a while before gripping to his shirt. It put her most of the way inside his jacket and the inviting warmth made her tighten her hold. She had never felt better in her life.

His other hand moved to help heft her up onto the hood of the car. As he leaned her back her legs instinctively wrapped around him. How many times had she imagined this… even before he left. She moved to grip his neck and hold herself in the kiss that neither of them had given up on yet. But she smiled and laughed into him as he reached for the keys. She leaned back, still gripping his shirt with one hand, but allowing his hand to fit in her pocket.

"Get in," he said in a voice slightly lower than usual. Damn he was sexy.

"Funny," she said before she let him walk away, "I was gonna say the same thing to you…"

………………….(yes I know that was a lame ass dirty joke, forgive me, and also forgive me for not having the guts to do everything we'd all like with the part in between here and the next part, I don't trust my own skills so let your imagination run wild my friends)………...

Every other time he'd screwed a girl he'd just left it at that. But then, he'd never started by 'professing his love' for the woman. Not truthfully anyway. He never stuck around afterwards, he'd never needed to… but now was completely different. He wanted to stay. He didn't think he'd stopped kissing her since they'd made it into the back of car. (Her little station wagon had proven itself handy indeed.)

It was still freezing outside, and they'd both put their pants back on for a bit of warmth, but hadn't made it to anything else. They were too busy keeping their hands on each other. He let his thumb stroke her neck, just like he had when Alex had come after her. She was slowly falling asleep there in his arms. He hadn't noticed before just how exhausted she looked, and he felt bad.

He kissed again, first a quick one to warn her followed by a much deeper one. She kissed back, almost desperately. The poor kid was so fucked up, but he still couldn't shake the feeling he could possibly really be in love with her. She was a far better girl than he deserved. He should have just left, let her go away mad at him. But knowing her it wouldn't have worked. She'd have come back again, she'd have found a way to get him. But why him? She could do so much better.

Her hand, which had been stroking his cheek, settled next to her own face as she drifted closer to sleep. He kissed her forehead then, warranting a smirk from her. When she finally dozed off the situation became a little awkward. He wasn't ready to leave yet, he couldn't leave her like that. But he wasn't comfortable watching her sleep either.

Carefully sitting up he pulled on his shirts and grabbed his jacket. The girl shivered a little, and Jack suddenly felt obligated to pull her long jacket over as a kind of blanket before turning away. It was difficult to pull himself up the slope of the lowered back seat, but he managed it and escaped into the cold world outside. Leaning against the back of the vehicle he pulled out a cigarette and started pondering the many directions today could lead them in.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Cal woke slowly, taking a minute to realize where she was. She smiled when she realized her jacket was draped over her. That boy was so damn adorable. She wasn't quite sure how she'd managed to get this lucky. She'd seen his back pressed against the window and had to admit she was a little shocked he was still there. How long had she been asleep? When had she fallen asleep?... An even better question – why did her whole body feel …what did it feel like?

Suddenly a much more familiar vibration broke into her thoughts. Suddenly panicked she delved into her jacket for her cell phone.

"I'm so sorry Dad. We got caught up in study group and I completely lost track of time."

"You better get your ass here soon."

"I'll hurry, I promise, but the best I can do is an hour and a half because we're in the middle of something right now."

"I'm watching the clock. If you're one minute longer than an hour and a half, so help me god I'll kick the shit out of you, you little bitch."

Oh good, he was drunk already, fun fun. "I'm coming…" she hung up. No use getting more worked up over it. She had to get going.

Stretching a little she was able to snatch her bra from the edge of the lowered back seat. Her shirt was much closer and she was able to button it pretty quickly considering how shaky she felt. She wasn't sure what factor was leading to the feeling, but she forced a deep breath before climbing out of the car.

Jack didn't look all the way over, a little shy about what had happened apparently. "You let me sleep too long, now I'm late." She mentioned.

He closed his eyes, frustrated with himself. "Shit. I'm sorry I didn't even think about that."

"Don't worry about it, I already made my excuses. Even bought myself enough time to take you home."

"You shouldn't have bothered."

"But I did, so get in the car."

"Chick…"

She smiled and looked up as she interrupted him. "Shut up Jack." Grabbing the edge of his coat she pulled him in to a kiss. He didn't fight her. She finally let go, but their faces stayed close. "Do you happen to remember where the keys ended up?"

"Not a clue," he laughed. "But my first guess would be in the ignition because my hands were pretty busy when I moved to the back."

She kissed him again as she joined his laughter. "Indeed they were." She stepped back to the driver's side door and opened it up. She could see the keys on the floor… he'd been pretty close. "I'm driving," she proclaimed, pointing him to where she wanted him to go.

"Are you sure it's alright for you to do this?" He was genuinely worried about her.

"Get in the fucking car already, will you?"

He nodded, attempting to smile, and complied with her orders. He knew it wasn't a long trip to his mother's place, and they definitely needed to talk so he tried to get things started as soon as he sat down.

"So what happens now?" Stupid general question, but it worked.

"That depends. Alex booked you guys a gig next weekend, so if you're patient you'll see me in about 10 days."

"And if I'm the least patient person in the world?" (which he wasn't, his biggest brother stole that title.)

"Well, I've got class from 9 to 1 tomorrow."

"And where can I expect to find you on a campus full of preppy looking kids such as yourself?"

"There's a snack bar in the building that's the center of campus. I always grab something to eat there after class. It's a good place to sit and do homework, or, you know, hang out."

He smiled, but shook his head. "It's almost like you had this planned out or something Chick."

"Not planned, per say… more like wishful thinking maybe." She smiled over at him as she stopped at an intersection for a second. He waited until they took off again to continue the conversation.

"So how many people make out in this hang out spot?"

"Um, about half of the people there at any given time," her smile turned a bit smug. "There's a pretty decent little corner area to do such things in."

Jack still found it hard to believe she'd managed to figure this out. "You are a disturbing person."

"No, I'm a typical horny teenager Jack, I'm just more open about it than most."

"Apparently."

She'd remembered how to get to his place. As she pulled up along the front curb She was able to see her friend's hand hesitate in going towards the door handle. She rolled her eyes and leaned over to kiss him one more time. She could tell by the way he lingered that he didn't want to leave her alone. He was afraid of what she was headed for. "I'll be fine," she whispered. "I'll see you tomorrow Jack."

He nodded but kissed her quickly again. "I'm sorry," he said as he finally climbed out.

She tried not to show her frustration before she'd driven off. She hated it when people felt sorry for her. It wasn't that bad. She might get a few bruises, but if the bastard had already been drunk when he called her he might be passed out by the time she got there. And he'd forget about the whole thing. Hopefully…….

Somehow, I couldn't stop myself.  
I just wanted to know how it felt.  
Too strong, I couldn't hold on.  
Yeah, yeah.  
Now I'm just tryin' to make some sense  
Out of how and why this happened.  
Where we're heading, there's just no knowing.  
Yeah, yeah.

**From: Crashed - Daughtry**


	15. The Girlfriend and the Guitar

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Four Brothers... wish I did.. maybe then I could pay for college...but definately dont...**

**Author's Note: I apologize for the wait, I'll admit that I've been sidetracked (attempting to start a "Black Donnellys" fic because I've become TOTALLY obsessed with that show)... other than that, all I have to say is that this chapter is pretty much the reason this fic is rated M... enjoy (and let me know what you think afterwards, definately love the reviews)**

………………………………………………………………………………………

Well it's a marvelous night for a moondance

With the stars up above in your eyes

A fantabulous night to make romance

'neath the color of October skies.

And all the leaves on the trees are falling

To the sound of the breezes that blow

And I'm trying to please to the calling

Of your heartstrings that play soft and low.

And all the nights magic, seems to whisper and hush,

And all the soft moonlight, seem to shine-In your blush

Can I just have one more moondance with you-my love?

Can I just make some more romance with you-my love?

Well I wanna make love to you tonight,

I can't wait till the morning has come

And I know now the time is just right,

and straight into my arms you will run.

And when you come my heart will be waiting,

to make sure that you're never alone

There and then all my dreams will come true dear,

There and then I will make you my own.

Can I just have one more moondance with you...my love?

**From: Moondance – Van Morrison**

Cal went up to the counter just like she usually did. She was starving. She handed over her three dollars and held her fruit and yogurt thingamabobber as she waited for her measly quarter in change. Suddenly someone came up behind her, leaning their arms on the counter on either side of her. She jumped, but smiled and asked "You want anything?"

"Not that you can buy off the menu," he whispered before kissing her neck. She felt herself blush, and hoped he didn't notice, but he laughed at her. "You're embarrassed about that? I don't remember any shyness yesterday."

"Yes, well I don't remember being around so many people yesterday."

"Good point." He stepped back to let her turn around.

The girl took a huge bite of her food, leaving the spoon in her mouth as she backed out into the lounge and motioned her friend to follow. Was friend the right word? Did he qualify as boyfriend now? That seemed to official sounding. Whatever… She'd done too much thinking already. Classes were like that sometimes.

Flopping down on a couch around the corner she put her feet up on the coffee table and took another bite of her yogurt. Jack had to pull his guitar case off his back before he could sit next to her. Not that he sat down like a normal person, of course not, he had to lay down with his legs hanging over the end of the couch, his head in Cal's lap. She laughed a tad bit nervously, and tried not to spit yogurt down on him. "You have absolutely no shame do you."

"Not usually."

She rolled her eyes before asking, "You want any of this?"

"No, I'm good," he wrinkled up his nose a little.

"Suit yourself," she said with her mouth full of the last of the yogurt. She pulled a slice of strawberry out with her fingers and added it in. Then she shook the plastic container a little and said "Put this on the table, will ya?"

He'd closed his eyes, attempting to relax, but looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. "What the fuck do I look like, your servant?"

She swallowed and smiled. "Well, I can't do much of anything fun with my hands full now can I?"

"Fair enough," he snatched the cup and slid it away before propping himself up to kiss her.

Just as her fingers started creeping up his hairline they both noticed someone clearing their throat nearby. Jack let his head fall as far back as it could go, attempting to see who was interrupting them.

"I'm sorry man, I didn't mean to interrupt anything but I… are you in that one band The…" he obviously couldn't remember the name of the band, but a cute little redhead popped up next to him and finished "The Spares right?"

A tad bit shocked, Jack looked confusedly up at Cal before sitting up to face these apparent fans. "Yeah," he finally acknowledged.

"We saw you guys a few months ago!" The redhead said excitedly. "You guys totally kicked way more ass than the guys you opened up for."

Jack laughed a little. "Thanks?"

"Do you, you know, mind giving us an autograph… just to prove to our friends who were there that we actually met you?"

He now glanced apologetically at Cal again before shrugging. "Sure." He signed the random piece of notebook paper they'd torn from one of their book bags and handed it back, feeling absolutely ridiculous. But that feeling passed when he noticed the guy keep glancing at Cal. The little girly beside him was starting to tug him away when he tried making 'polite conversation' again.

"This your girlfriend?"

Cal blushed and lowered her head but Jack didn't miss a beat in saying "Yeah."

"Hey, I am sorry about interrupting you guys," he pointed to his girlfriend, "She wanted me to… Ow." He'd gotten punched for putting the blame on her.

Jack just nodded and waited for them to leave. "That was fucking weird." She gave him a strange look, something bashful but happy. Ugh… she was being girly without meaning to be. "What, did you think I wasn't going to claim you with other people around?" She opened her mouth but couldn't speak so turned away. Rolling his eyes he leaned down and tried to look her in the face. "You weren't expecting me to say that were you?" He wasn't at all used to her being shy around him. It was kind of making him nervous. "Why?"

She suddenly couldn't control one of her evil joking smiles. "Because Jack, you practically admitted to being a man whore last year."

Damn her… "You're lucky I like you, or I might be upset that you just said that," he shook his finger at her.

"Yeah, you even like me enough to make me whopping 'girlfriend #3'!" She joked.

He cupped her cheek for a second and said "If it makes you feel any better, I already like you more than the other two combined."

"Yeah?"

He nodded before pulling her into a kiss. They made it to almost where they had been before the loser fans showed up…and her cell phone began ringing. It scared the hell out of him and he pulled back, but she kept him in the kiss a few seconds longer. But he fished around in her pocket to pull out the damn interruption and toss it on her leg. She held on to his neck as she looked down at the caller id.

"Damn it." She looked up at him apologetically but he was already turning to sit down. As she opened up her phone he was opening up his guitar case. "What do you want Dad?"

"You gonna be on time tonight?"

"Um, yeah I'm plannin' on it."

"I need you to be. We've got a big group coming in at 5:30 so we'll be busy all night."

"Yeah, I got it Dad. I'll do my best, talk to you in a few hours."

Jack was turned to sit in the same direction he'd first laid in. Cal turned to lean her back against his. Her head fell back on his shoulder. He was playing a song she knew and she hummed along a little. Her body jolted once as he laughed, but he switched songs and she didn't know the new one. After a few more tunes she suddenly started a conversation.

"Hey you remember when I asked you what inanimate object you'd be?"

"Yeah," he hesitated a little, "and I remember you wouldn't answer when I turned it on you."

"You wanna know what my answer was."

"Absolutely," he was so interested he set aside his instrument.

"It's really pathetic," she warned.

"And mine wasn't?"

"Mine's worse. It's… it's a really specific object."

"Are you ever gonna just tell me?"

"Your guitar…"

It took a few seconds to register, and he gave a short laugh. "You serious?"

"You want reasons?"

"Of course."

"Because it goes everywhere with you, it's always in your lap, and you are never afraid to touch it."

She couldn't tell what kind of expression he had and it was unnerving. She leaned back to try and get a look at his face but he suddenly stood up. She fell flat and he sat on the edge of the couch to lean over her. "You were jealous of my fucking guitar?"

She smiled, "Maybe a little."

He kissed her slowly and playfully. Her fingers wrapped into his shirt at the back of his shoulders. Pulling out of the kiss he looked down at her, suddenly a little serious. "If you had told me that, I don't think I'd have been able to leave."

"I'd have forced you to."

"Why?"

"Because you've wanted that longer then you've wanted me."

He shook his head as he smiled at her. "Yeah but what did you want?"

She shrugged as best she could. "It wasn't obvious?"

He gave her a quick kiss before saying "It was very obvious. And just so you know, I almost tried to make you come with us." She was quite surprised by this revelation, but that didn't stay on his mind very long. He kissed her again and let his hand start drifting up her shirt.

She laughed into his mouth and gripped his wrist to stop him. "Not here Jack."

Sighing he moved back a little. "Somehow I knew you were going to say that."

"You'll get over it."

"What would it take to convince you otherwise?"

She laughed, "God, don't you think about anything other than sex?"

"No," he stated bluntly, "Why do you think I had such a hard time just hanging out with you last year?"

"Yeah somehow I only had that problem half the time."

"Really? Then you were pretty obvious about it all of those times then huh?"

"Shut up," she smiled through embarrassment, "I was hanging out with a hot rocker guy, what did you expect?"

Jack was stunned for a second. "Did you just call me hot?"

"What, am I not allowed to do that?"

"No by all means, announce the truth. It's just… I don't know I guess you've just never actually said it before."

"Sorry," she shifted, a little uncomfortable, "But that's probably a good thing, considering what happened between us anyway."

"Good point," he smiled but let her up a little. She was up on her elbows when he leaned back in to kiss her. He couldn't stop doing that, and it was starting to drive him crazy. "I should get going, before I cause trouble."

"Wow, no faith in your self restraint huh?" She had her arms around his neck and he knew by the smile on her face she was doing it to torture him.

"I'm a Mercer, remember."

"Ah yes, family name to uphold."

"Exactly."

"So, about tomorrow…" Jack laughed as he pulled her off of his neck. "I don't have classes, and I do have to work…" He sighed as he started putting his guitar away so his new girlfriend moved up to sit on her knees and wrap her arms around his shoulders. "I think you should come hang out with me. Who knows, you might get lucky er something."

"You're the one with the car, why do I do all the traveling?"

"Because you can get out of the house easier," she explained, "and because we can get away with more at my place."

"Yeah, until your dad walks by."

"He won't. Trust me, I wouldn't have suggested it if I thought we'd get caught."

"This is a bad idea…"

"I'll see you tomorrow Jack." She stood and started gathering her stuff before he pulled her back down on his leg.

"Are you sure about this?"

She smiled and whispered "Positive," before giving him one more kiss. It was a long kiss. They played in each other's mouths not wanting to stop there. With a groan Cal finally pushed away.

Jack nodded, "Get out of here before I'm forced to take advantage of you."

"I probably wouldn't fight too hard." She stood back up, jumping a little as Jack pinched her ass and stood to follow her.

"That's why I suggested we leave."

"Right," she started walking, but as he followed she looked back and asked "You need a ride?"

………………………………………………………………………………………

Her father had disappeared around 11 o'clock. At 1:30 she started to kick people out. By 2 am Cal was sitting on the edge of a pool table, Jack on a bar stool about 5 feet away. Somehow they managed to just stare ate each other. Jack was the first to move. He walked over to stand between his young girlfriend's legs.

"You gonna kiss me Jack?"

He cocked his head to the side and smirked. "I was thinking about it."

She pulled him in for one before tucking her thumbs inside the waistband of his jeans. Damn the girl, she knew just how to torture him.

"I vote we go upstairs," she whispered, tugging on his belt loops. But it didn't stop him from looking cautiously up at the ceiling. "He's asleep, I promise. He won't be conscious again until 7 or 8."

"I can't stay that long," Jack claimed. "I shouldn't stay any later than 4, otherwise Evelyn will find out I didn't come home and she'll make me feel bad…"

"Then let's make the most of our two hours, huh?"

………………………………………………………………………………………

She'd grabbed his hands and led him up the well hidden (and locked) stairwell and into the apartment that served as her living quarters. She smiled at his stunned expression. "You can gawk later."

She had turned around, pulled his arms around her waist and started backing into the bedroom. He crashed a kiss down on her and reached for the button on her pants. She gasped a little at the touch and stopped walking in an attempt to focus more clearly. It didn't work. She began pulling at his shirt, hers was gone soon after. She didn't even realize her pants were undone until she was lifted onto the bed. But by then all logical thoughts had left her mind. She was desperately kissing him while at the same time pulling at the belt …and the button… and finally the zipper that stood in her way.

But before she could start stripping the denim off, he crawled back a little and suddenly yanked her pants to her knees. Everything after that was a blur… she remembered kisses being planted along her inner thighs… and eventually all the clothes were gone… but was that before or after the… it had to have been before he'd run his tongue ring the length of her abdomen, up to her neck where he nibbled away for a while… she remembered their fingers lacing together as he pressed her hands to the bed… and then the nipple thing, oh God the nipple thing… And his one hand had drifted down between her legs…

Her breathing got faster and faster… she wondered if she might hyperventilate. He simply kissed her for a while, so she had to calm down a little… but then she remembered him drifting down lower again… and she was moaning… a lot… but she'd barely heard it over her heart pounding in her ears… She wanted everything, but she didn't want it to end… ever…

………………………………………………………………………………………


	16. The Rebel and the Romantic

**Disclaimer:...from now on the word itself is going to be the disclaimer because I'm out of creative sentances...**

**Author's Note: Woah, wait, what... you mean I'm actually done with a chapter by 11:30 pm? Weird... lol, anyway, sorry about the wait on this chappie, stupid school's been getting in the way, but since my birthday is tomorow (or technically in half an hour) I decided to take some time out to actually write some of the stuff trapped in my head. (damn my head's fucked up, lol.)... so enjoy, and I'll try to get the next chappie up soon since this one's a bit of a cliffhanger and I know what it's like to be left tortured like that...**

Hey, girl, you know you drive me crazy  
one look puts the rhythm in my hand.  
Still I'll never understand why you hang around  
I see what's going down.

Cover up with makeup in the mirror  
tell yourself, it's never gonna happen again  
you cry alone and then he swears he loves you.

A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect  
every action in this world will bear a consequence  
If you wade around forever, you will surely drown  
I see what's going down.

I see the way you go and say you're right again,  
say you're right again  
heed my lecture

Do you feel like a man when you push her around?  
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?  
Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end  
as your lies crumble down, a new life she has found.

Face down in the dirt, she said,  
"This doesn't hurt", she said,  
"I finally had enough."

One day she will tell you that she has had enough  
it's coming round again.  
**From: Face Down – The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus**

He was watching her sleep. It seemed a little creepy, but he couldn't help it. The only other option was to crawl out of her bed and go home, and he didn't want to leave. He didn't know if it was because he loved being near her, or if he was staying out of… what, guilt? Was that it… guilt that the bruises had escaped his eyes until after he'd fucked her… And the worst part was, he knew why they were there! Wednesday had been the 30th, the day her mother had run off years before. Her father had probably drunk himself shitfaced and beat the hell out of the girl he blamed for his wife's leaving. And she'd have just backed herself in a corner and taken it because she blamed herself for her mother's disappearance anyway.

If he hadn't showed up she would have been home on time, she might have been able to evade the angry fists, she might have not been hurt at all. How had he not thought about this before? Why had he not checked up on her?

He heaved a heavy sigh… there was no use thinking about that. It had been done, he had to forget it…no not forget, he'd remember it as long as he had to. He'd remember it until he got her away from that bastard…

'Stop!' he thought, what good was he doing? In an attempt to calm down he refocused on the one thing that had offset the bruises from the forefront of his mind earlier… the tattoo in the small of her back. A skull and crossbones entwined with thorny pale roses, with a rather "emo" looking star on either side, all in a light pink/dark gray color scheme... She was such a weirdo. A tattooed nerd with a soft spot for punk rockers and movie making... Was that really all he knew about her? Well no… but everything else was either useless or depressing… drugs, Alex…blueberry pie…

The alarm he'd set on her cell phone was going off on the side table behind him. He didn't want to go. He could probably have stayed in that bed for days. But he pulled himself to the edge of the bed anyway, shutting off the alarm and swinging his legs over. He had no idea where half of his clothes were. His shirt must have been somewhere near the door… the pants somewhere near the end of the bed… everything else was pretty much a mystery. Except for the sock he stepped on when he put his feet down. One down, one to go in that department.

His mind was protesting being used at such an early hour, and on basically no sleep. But somehow he managed to gather all his clothes and pile them up on the edge of the bed. With his pants finally on he bent down to put on the socks and uncoordinatedly fell onto the bed. Cal moved, making him cringe a little. He had meant to leave her asleep… damn his tiredness, making him all clumsy.

She rolled onto her back and played with his belt loop as he finished dressing. Her silence was a little unnerving, and Jack looked over his shoulder to see if there were any emotion he should at all be concerned with. There wasn't. She just looked tired.

As her lover leaned back to place his head on her stomach she gave a small laugh and began playing with his hair. Her voice cracked a little as she asked "How exactly are you getting home?"

"I was starting to wonder that myself," he smiled a tad sheepishly.

"My keys are in my coat pocket…"

"Yeah but that's just stupid, because then I'd have to bring it back and find another way home that time." She sighed and moved to sit up but he stopped her. "You're not going anywhere, you should be going back to sleep."

"Then you better call a cab." She willingly collapsed back on the pillows as he got up to grab her cell phone.

"You got a phone book?"

"The number's saved on my phone."

"The number for the cab company is saved on your cell phone?" He said it slowly as if trying to make sense of it.

"I work at a bar Jack, I have to make sure my drunk patrons make it home safely so they can come back and make me even more rich the next night."

He laughed, finally finding the number and hitting "send". When he'd done what he needed to he tossed the phone on the end of the bed, and rolled back in beside his girlfriend.

"25 minutes?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

He'd closed his eyes, but smiled and shook his head. "Have I ever told you you're creepy?"

"A few time actually."

"Mmm…" he sighed, to tired to actually converse.

But Cal was wide awake. "Just out of curiosity… did I happen to come up in conversations at band practice the other day?"

He smiled again, and looked over at her. "No, I didn't tell Alex."

She nodded, not at all surprised that he'd known what she meant. "Ok then…"

"He's gonna figure it out."

"I know, I just would rather it not be soon."

"If he comes after you I'll kill him." She laughed lightly, not taking the statement as seriously as he had meant it. But he figured that wasn't a very good early morning topic, so he shifted a little. "So when do I get to escape the house again?"

Amazingly enough she knew what he was talking about despite her exhausted state. "You busy Sunday afternoon?"

"I'm a lazy ass wannabe rockstar, I'm never busy."

"Sunday it is then," she tried to keep from laughing.

"Where?"

"That pizza place?"

"Works for me."

"K." A horn honked somewhere outside. "Your cab's here."

He ignored her, already half asleep, so she rolled over and kissed him. He plunged into the kiss, surprising her a little and allowing him to lean her back. When he released her she was holding his neck and looking up at him with a frightening amount of love. "There's money in the little silver box on my dresser," she offered.

"Thank you," he gave her a quick final kiss before dragging himself off the bed. "Sunday?"

"Sunday," she confirmed.

"What time?"

"Noon-ish?"

He nodded while grabbing her hidden wad of cash. "I'll pay you back," he promised.

She smiled and snuggled back under her blankets before jokingly muttering "Just consider it payment, man whore."

"Watch it Chick," he joked back as he quietly stepped out of the bedroom. He had to look back at her again before heading downstairs.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Sneaking into the bar proved to be an easy feat after the first few times, Jack realized as he opened the door into Cal's apartment. It was Wednesday, she only had one class and it was in the morning so she'd been home most of the day. He immediately spotted her asleep on the couch. Stupid girl never got more than four or five hours of sleep a night, though she claimed to sleep better when he was around.

Jack could hear the stereo playing some softer punk song quietly which probably meant she'd gone to sleep on purpose. He leaned over the back of the couch to gently touch her face, but she jumped awake as soon as he did and looked up at him in shock. A moment later she was covering it up with a welcoming smile, but her boyfriend's eyes were elsewhere.

"What the fuck is that?" She closed her eyes and flinched away as he pointed out a nasty mark on her neck. He was suddenly very pissed off. "Did your father do that? What the hell made that?"

She nodded to the first question and ignored the second one. "It's not that bad."

"Like hell it's not! I swear to God I'm going to kill that bastard." He started to stand up, but she was instantly up on her knees holding tight to his jacket.

"Probably not the wisest thing to do, especially considering two of the only people who know we associate are cops that drink here."

He couldn't take his eyes off of the mark. He brushed the tips of his fingers past it gently, but she still flinched. "I won't let him do this."

"It's not your call to make Jack."

"No, it's yours, so why are you still here?"

"Where else would I go?"

"With me," he said in all seriousness. She was unconvinced. "What would it take to make you come live with Evelyn and me?"

She rolled her eyes with a sad smile and spun off the couch. "I can't"

"You won't," he corrected, "but why?" She was walking toward the back of the apartment. Her worried boyfriend took a few running steps and grabbed her arm. He was about to say her name, but when his fingers locked around her wrist she instinctively spun around and punched him. It wasn't a good punch because he had her good hand in his, but it was enough of a shock to make him let go and stumble back a little.

She was horrified at her own action and covered her mouth as she turned away again.

"No, hey," he started to reach out for her again, but realized it wouldn't do any good. "I shouldn't have done that, I knew better."

She was ignoring him, heading around the corner to the bathroom. Rushing around after her he slammed one hand against the wall to block her path. She jumped, but gave up and leaned against the wall to face him. As she refused to look at him he suddenly had an epiphany.

"You don't trust me do you?"

She opened her mouth to reply but couldn't. She looked ashamed and afraid and Jack wished there were an easy way to make her stop.

"What do I need to do?" She shook her hanging head, and he knew he was going about this all wrong, but he had to keep trying. "You want me to say I love you? Is that what I need to do?"

"No Jack that's not what I want you to do."

He was stunned. "Why?"

It was her turn to be pissed off now. Though she still wouldn't look at him she raised her head a little. "Because only three people have ever said that to me before. One of them abandoned me, the other two beat me."

Realizing his mistake Jack took a half step backwards and hung his head, though keeping it close to hers. "I'm sorry. And I'm sorry I grabbed you back there. I just… I can't keep watching you go through this. It was bad enough knowing about it and leaving you here. Now I can be here to protect you and you won't let me." He tried to gently touch her face but when she flinched he stopped and sighed. He was going to have to start at the very beginning with her and he was afraid he didn't have the patience. He decided to try his original approach one more time, just in case. He backed up, but was still pressing his hand against the wall. "You may not think it's that bad Chick, but it's the worst thing I've ever seen on you."

With teary eyes and a sad smile she somehow managed the sarcastic joke, "That's because you haven't seen my shoulder yet."

Utterly frustrated, Jack slapped his hand against the wall. "Dammit Cal!" But he spun away from her to take a deep breath and calm down. She'd jumped again, and he knew he was only making things worse. Stupid, stupid, stupid. "I'm sorry," he sighed, turning back. She was shaking a little, and as soon as he realized it he felt like shit. "Jesus," he rubbed his face, noticing how she tensed up when he stepped closer to her. "Cal," it was a sad exasperated sigh, and it almost made her look up at him. He reached for her face again, ignoring her flinch, and moved his own face close to hers. "I will never hurt you like that. Do you trust me?"

She'd closed her eyes but if she was moving at all it was closer to him. "I'm trying." As she whispered the words she finally forced herself to look at him.

He nodded as he gave another sigh. He knew he should be happy she had replied at all, and she'd even replied with hope. But part of him had still been expecting her to instantly change her mind, to fall into his arms and beg to be taken away. Most of him knew better than that, Evelyn had set a better example than that, but there was still that one idealistic part of him that had stayed alive until he heard her words. He realized then that he was not prepared to handle this. Maybe it was because they were both tired… he hadn't been doing much sleeping between meeting with her and practicing with the band multiple times a week now… or maybe they would never be able to solve this. Either way it was obvious that the solution wasn't going to present itself that night. He backed up a step and turned to leave.

"No…" the girl whimpered pathetically as she managed to grab hold of his sleeve. Jack looked back at her sadly, but slowly pulled out of her grasp. He let his fingers brush past hers, but left without another word.

**Author's Second Note: Something to ponder, which one is the rebel, which one the romantic?...**


	17. A game, a call, and some drugs

**Disclaimer: Um... yeah... don't sue me, I can't afford it and I'm not claiming anything except Cal, her family, and her past...**

**Author's Note: So, I've been trying to upload this for two days... totally didn't work until just now... but that's alright, it kept gowing in length and detail... fun fun.. so enjoy this incredibly long chapter. Oh and by the way, thanks to all my reviewers, I 3 you all**

I don't mind where you come from

As long as you come to me

I don't like illusions I can't see

Them clearly

I don't care no I wouldn't dare

To fix the twist in you

You've shown me eventually

What you'll do

I don't mind...

I don't care...

As long as you're here

Go ahead tell me you'll leave again

You'll just come back running

Holding your scarred heart in hand

It's all the same

And I'll take you for who you are

If you take me for everything

Do it all over again

It's all the same

Hours slide and days go by

Till you decide to come

And in between it always seems too long

All of a sudden

And I have the skill, yeah I have the will

To breathe you in while I can

However long you stay

Is all that I am

these lyrics found on don't mind...

I don't care...

As long as you're here

Go ahead tell me you'll leave again

You'll just come back running

Holding your scarred heart in hand

It's all the same

And I'll take you for who you are

If you take me for everything

Do it all over again

It's always the same

Wrong or right

Black or white

If I close my eyes

It's all the same

In my life

The compromise

I close my eyes

It's all the same

Go ahead say it you're leaving

You'll just come back running

Holding your scarred heart in hand

It's all the same

And I'll take you for who you are

If you take me for everything

Do it all over again

It's all the same

**All the Same – Sick Puppies**

Evelyn had been shocked to see Jack lying on the couch when she got home Thursday evening. He hadn't hardly stayed home at night since the band had come back (temporary hiatus until they gathered some more money… that's what they claimed at least. Evelyn wondered how many of them were just plain homesick.) But she knew by her son's pathetic moping that something had happened between him and whoever he'd been spending all that time with.

"Help me with dinner Jackie?" Her infamous question that was actually a command, all her sons knew it well. He silently rolled off the couch to comply. He knew his place in her kitchen better than any of the others. In fact, he was really the only one compliant enough to have learned anything about real cooking. But her keeping him in the kitchen had also helped her to keep an eye on him. For example, right now he was focusing far too hard on the pots and pans he was supposed to be searching through. "What's the matter?"

He didn't look up, something must really have been bothering him. But he answered typically… "Nothing."

"Jackie, don't lie to your mother." She was scrubbing vegetables in the sink and following his example, not looking at her son.

He grabbed what he needed from the cupboard and stood up to hand it over. "It's nothing Mom, really."

She didn't believe that for a second, but she knew a topic change was the only way to pry the truth out of her little one. She nodded about his comment before noting, "I didn't expect you to be home so early today. Are you going out later?"

"I doubt it." Now he was sounding distant. She'd made him think about whatever was bothering him.

"Did something happen?"

He sighed, finally remembering that she wasn't ever going to give up until she found out what she wanted to know, and knew it was the truth. "I guess," he played dumb.

"You guess something happened. Lets narrow things down here sweetie, does it have to do with the band?"

"No," he said sternly, but as he leaned on the counter he thought again. "Well… maybe? I don't know…" he rubbed his face with his hands.

"It's a simple question Jackie. Focus for a second and tell me, yes or no, is this a problem with a band member?"

"Not ..." he sighed again. He was ready to give her a long explanation but that's not what she'd asked for. "No."

"One of your brothers then?"

Jack gave a small, uncomfortable laugh. "Definitely not."

"Well I'm out of ideas…" Evelyn confessed. She was silent after that, continuing to prepare things to put in the oven. She knew her silence would bother him into saying whatever he needed to get off his chest.

"I…" he started, but growled in frustration, not knowing how to start. He finally figured he might as well just come out with the important background information first. "I have a girlfriend," he blurted out, "…well, had a girlfriend."

"Jack, you've only been back for two weeks!"

He cringed and turned his cheek to his mother's scolding before correcting her. "Less than, actually."

Somehow Evelyn managed to finish what she was doing and, after setting the timer, devote her full attention to her son. "And how long have you been dating her?"

"Technically? A week yesterday." He smiled a little, realizing how ridiculous it was that they'd had a fight exactly one week after they'd first hooked up.

"What do you mean, technically? What other form of time is there?"

"Well…" He leaned backwards on the countertop and tried to think of a way out of this confession. There wasn't one. "It's Cal, so… I guess it just feels like a lot longer, because of last year and all."

"Cal? I thought there wasn't anything going on between you two."

"There wasn't last year. But I ran in to her last Wednesday and…" Yeah, going on with that sentence probably wasn't a good idea.

"It took less than a day for you two to start dating after 10 months of not speaking?"

"It actually only took like 10 minutes to make the decision… not that it was an actual decision, it just kinda happened." Oh shit fuck… she was going to see right through that statement! She was giving him that scolding look… dammit… "Don't look at me like that! I'm sorry if what I did disappoints you but I'm not sorry I did it, alright?" He immediately felt like shit for yelling at Evelyn, but she seemed a little impressed with the conviction behind his words. In truth, he was just as shocked. It was one of those things you can't admit to yourself until it slips out like that. But Evelyn still looked cautious about the whole thing. "I'm pretty sure I love her, if that makes you feel any better," he finally looked his mother in the eye.

Sighing, she finally decided that what mattered more were the still unanswered questions. "What happened?"

"I fu… Screwed up." He smirked a little as he censured himself.

She gave a quick glare but pried deeper. "That doesn't explain very much."

Jack pulled himself up onto the counter now, knowing this conversation was going to take a while. He had to start at the beginning… but just where was the beginning? How about, "Her dad beats her." Yeah that was a good start… especially because it got his social-working mother completely hooked on his words.

"How badly?"

"Well, it's abuse Mom, there is no good. But it wasn't really bad until yesterday. She had this big… I don't know, I guess it was a bruise, but it looked scabbed too… and it was like a big horseshoe on her neck."

Evelyn knew immediately from her years of experience just what had made that mark. "He used a belt," she muttered, not entirely meaning to.

"What?!"

"Continue, Jackie…"

Rolling his eyes he tried to refocus. "Right, so I made a bit of a big deal out of it and she got all defensive… Stop looking at me like that! Yes, I know I shouldn't have pushed her, but Ma, she's 18 years old! And… well, I don't think my complaining was the real problem anyway." He cringed before she even started her next scolding.

"JACK MERCER WHAT DID YOU DO?"

He hesitated. "I mighta…sorta… grabbed at her a little…" She was shaking her head at him. "I know, alright! I know it was stupid and I didn't mean to… and she punched me for it, by the way… But Mom she was running toward the bathroom and I was honestly afraid she was going to hurt herself."

"She wouldn't have done it while you were around…"

"No, I think she would have. The last time she came around before I left she'd gotten roughed up, so she freaked out and cut herself. She knows that I know about it… hell I bandaged 'em for her!"

Evelyn had started moving around. She'd grabbed two glasses, filled them with water, and now was motioning Jack to follow her into the dining room. She wanted to sit down to discuss this… Jack did not, but he did it anyway. He'd fucked up enough, now he had to make it up to her so she'd give him advice.

As he sat, he stretched his arm across the table, almost touching his mother's on the other side. "Mom, I gotta get her out of there." He knew he was pleading with his eyes, and he tried to stop. He was being pathetic… but he couldn't help it. Evelyn could fix it, like she'd fixed his problems before.

But Evelyn was shaking her head. "She has to be willing to do it Jackie. You can't make her do it."

"Well I can, but she'd hate me for it." He muttered, slightly amused at the scenarios running through his head.

"No Jackie."

He nodded and, frustrated, muttered, "Yeah I know… But I can't just sit around and watch her bruises can I? I don't know what to do… Everything I did yesterday was useless. I'm pretty sure I scared her, and she didn't really trust me to begin with so…"

"You can't be expected to change how you act for every person you meet."

He quickly sat back in his chair, realizing his proximity to his mother wasn't making him feel any better. "It's not just some person, it's Cal. Things were different before because I wasn't allowed to touch her. Now I can, and I want to, but after yesterday… I'm afraid to. Gah, I'm so stupid."

"What you did was a completely normal reaction," Evelyn tried to comfort him.

"Yeah well, I guess I figured living with you I should have known better."

She smiled a little, proud that her son had picked up on as much as he did. "She'll give you another chance."

"How do you know?" He wasn't so sure.

The oven timer was starting to go off, but Evelyn ignored it for a moment more. "You're a good boy Jackie, she knows that. If you're patient she'll start to trust you." Only when she'd finished and patted her son's arm did she head back to the kitchen.

She didn't hear him muttering "But I'm not patient."

………………………………………………………………………………………

The bar was really crowded even by 5 o' clock Friday. Cal was rushing back and forth, not even looking up at the people she was serving. Jack decided to wait at the counter with Alex until the girl could pull out their beers. But the first boy regretted his decision when he noticed the other pinch the arm of this girl they both claimed as their own. But as his competition walked away with his booze Jack stuck around.

"Chick…"

She quickly cut him off. "I'm busy."

"Yeah, I know," he sighed. "I just… Later? Please?"

"Maybe." She walked to the other end of the bar hoping to escape him, but he followed her anyway.

"Cal, I'm sorry, and you have every right to ream me out for what I said if you want to, but please don't ignore me."

She handed over the drinks she'd been mixing before leaning on the counter. "If I were going to ream you out," she almost looked up at him, but not quite, before finishing "It would be for leaving."

As she went back to work she heard him mutter "Shit," and rub his face in frustration before turning to join the rest of the band.

………………………………………………………………………………………

By the time the bar calmed down Cal was keeping her eyes on Jack and Alex at all times. Every minute that passed the air between the two boys grew tenser and she didn't trust either of them to behave. And she definitely couldn't afford to let them start trouble on her watch.

She knew as the last few other people left that she needed to do something to keep the boys occupied. Suddenly, as she was wiping the counter down, an ingeniously fun idea popped into her head. She grabbed two beers and started toward the others.

As she neared them, Jack jumped up from the chair he'd been occupying and started to lunge at Alex. Cal skillfully dropped the beers on the nearest pool table and pulled her boyfriend back. He was shocked but Cal had already let go of him. She decided to flaunt her hips as she walked back to the pool table, hopped up and took a swig of a beer before smiling flirtatiously. "Alex pick yourself a whore, I wanna play Steady Hands."

Jack half stumbled his way over to her as she pulled her favorite stick off the rack. He just stood behind her for a minute before she felt his hand on her shoulder. It slid down to her middle and he pulled her close.

"Does this mean I'm forgiven?"

She chuckled, "Fuck no," her face rested against his, "But it means you have all morning to get there."

Jack kissed her neck before muttering "I'll take that." In fact, he would have taken just about anything. Especially after that flirty shit she'd just pulled.

Alex was already glaring at the couple across the table from him. The last time they'd played this game he'd seen Jack trying so hard not to touch the girl. Now he wouldn't stop touching her, and the Alex found himself wishing her was in his place. He wasn't ever supposed to want to be Jack! This was wrong, Cal was supposed to be his!

"You wanna break, Lex?"

He continued to glare but took advantage of the offer, wrapping his arms around a random girl he'd pulled into the game.

Jack stepped back, but he kept one arm around his girlfriend. She flinched as he rubbed up against her shoulder and he suddenly remembered why. He wondered if that would effect her skills. But she didn't seem worried so he let her handle the situation. Though his first priority was still taking care of Cal, he couldn't help that he really REALLY wanted to win this game…

……………………………………………………………………………………..

Alex stormed off after losing two games of Steady Hands to his ex and her new lover. He'd taken his partner with him and Cal almost felt sorry for the poor girl who didn't know what she'd gotten herself into.

Jack had laughed and goaded his bandmate which had almost resulted in a fistfight. But now as the other boy was slamming the door he clung gently to the prize the two had really been fighting over. She been stumbling a little and giggling a little too much so as she finished her drink Jack got to wondering just how much drinking she'd been doing.

Gently he ran his hand up her shirt and felt for the damage on her shoulder. He felt the scabs before she flinched away. He kept his hold on her and whispered "I wanna see."

She hesitated, obviously worried that he would react similarly to the other night. He started pulling up her shirt, a t-shirt tonight instead of her usual wife beater probably in an attempt to hide the ugliness, but she swatted him away and went behind the bar.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I just…" he followed over to the bar, helpfully bringing along the empty bottles left over from the game. He had to think for a second before he blurted out anything that would get him into deeper trouble. "It'll make me feel better if I can see it, alright. I promise I wont make a big deal over it, I just… It's in a bad place and I know he's not helping you with it so…"

She tried to hide a smile, biting her lip and keeping her head lowered. But she finally sighed and said "upstairs."

She was a little slower moving than she usually was. Jack wasn't sure if she was just procrastinating, or if the drinking really had slowed her down. But they made it up, and into her bedroom where she started changing into a pair of pajamas. He knew this was her way of saying he wasn't getting any tonight, and he smiled and nodded in understanding. But as she stripped off her shirt they both cringed. She'd been right, this hidden one was twice as bad as the one on her neck. She pulled her tank top over her head, leaving the wound open for Jack to inspect. He immediately pulled her into the fluorescent lighting of the bathroom and opened the medicine cupboard to take care of her.

"How the hell were you not screaming in pain all night?" He asked as calmly as he could. He noticed her tense up a little, but she also gave a short laugh.

"You don't feel much of anything when you're high Jack."

He stopped disinfecting her shoulder and stared at her in shock. "High!?" This time she really laughed and nodded her head, but he still didn't believe her. "You're high?"

"I was, it started fading in the middle of Steady Hands."

"Which is why you pulled away so fast..." he suddenly realized. She nodded again. "What did you use?"

She shrugged a little, but flinched. Looking up into the cabinet she used her unimpaired arm to reach for a prescription bottle that had no label. She tossed it over her bad shoulder to the still shocked man behind her. "There's probably an assortment in there, it's just old shit Alex left here."

Wait… Alex had been in this apartment? He'd left shit here? Jack felt himself growing more and more defensive, and wanting more and more to kill that bastard. "How long ago?"

"A few years… two probably."

"I thought you only dated him until you were 15.."

"Almost 16… and I didn't stop getting drugs from him for another five or six months. AND, for your information, that's the first time I've used them since my 17th birthday."

Normally Jack found he had no problem with the girls he liked doing drugs. Hell, it was kind of an excuse to use them himself. But these drugs had ties to Alex and everything that bastard had done to Cal. Setting aside the things he'd been preparing to use on her he twisted open the bottle and poured them down the sink as he turned on the faucet. She bit her lip but this time there was no smile trying to come out from behind her actions. But Jack picked up where he'd left off and her attention was turned to the searing sting of the disinfectant. She cried out a little but she was pulled down onto her boyfriend's knee as he sat on the toilet. He put something much more soothing over the nasty cut and finally taped a gauze pad over it. But before he let her up he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the bandage gently.

"I am sorry about how I handled this the other day." He started. "I worry about you Chick." She didn't say anything, but she wasn't pulling out of his grip either. Sighing, he kissed between her shoulder blades this time and then urged her to get up.

She reached for his hand and he let her drag him toward the couch. He almost laughed out loud when she pulled out the Playstation 2 paddles. The alternative to sex was video games… this was quite possibly the best alternative he could think of… except maybe drugs, but he had pretty adamantly decided against letting Cal use again so that was out of the question. She snuggled up to him as they played some fighting game. She was better at it because she owned it, but as she grew tired she started losing to him. During half of one fight he was certain he felt her eyes close, but then jolt open. They laid like that for an hour or more before he decided not to keep her awake any more. He pulled the controller from her hands after she lost again and set both of them on the coffee table.

Just as he was about to sit up and force her to go to bed her cell phone started vibrating against said coffee table. He grabbed it mentioning "Who the fuck is calling you at 3:30 in the morning?" She mumbled something against his chest and when he read the caller id he realized what she'd said. "Ass weasel?"

"Don't answer it," she warned.

"Does Ass Weasel have a real name?"

"Yes."

"And it is?..."

Groaning she sat up and snatched the phone. Opening it she started the much dreaded conversation. "Bobby Mercer if you don't stop fucking calling me I swear to God…"

Apparently the man on the other end of the line cut her off but Jack was too stunned to notice that she was preoccupied. "WHAT?!"

She smiled at him before replying to Bobby. "Hang on a second." Then she explained quietly "He's been calling a couple times a month to see if you came back to fuck me yet?" She was grinning widely, but also eyeing her boyfriend cautiously. When he lunged at the phone she stood up on the couch and hopped over the back. "Hey Bobby, could you call back some other time, I'm kinda busy trying to fuck your baby brother." She managed to press the speaker phone button which was probably a big mistake.

"What's a matter, the little faerie still ain't puttin' out?"

"Shut the fuck up Bobby." Jack interjected.

"Woah, you mean he really is there? Well would you look at that. Good for you Jackie, at least I know someone's makin' a man out of you."

Before Jack could react again Cal said "Hey, first of all, I don't appreciate being called masculine. Second, I don't appreciate you demeaning my boyfriend. Thirdly our sex life is just fine, thank you for asking. And lastly, I'm exhausted so I'm going to hang up and go to bed now, is that ok with you Big Brother?" she joked with a smirk.

"No, hey let me talk to my brother before you hang up alright."

"No," the girl stated bluntly. "If you talk to him you're gonna get him all riled up and pissed off and I'm too tired to deal with him like that."

"Then send him home afterwards, I don't care. You're not keeping me from talking to him, I'll just keep calling till he answers."

But Jack snuck up and snatched the phone away, switching off of speaker. "What the fuck are you doin' man?"

Cal watched intently, hoping Bobby didn't say anything too stupid.

"Two weeks… pretty much, yeah… Go to hell, Bobby…" Jack noticed his girlfriend's foot tapping nervously and snapped the phone shut. She'd stopped looking at him and was watching her foot, but when she heard the end of the conversation she looked up just in time to meet his lips for a much needed kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and practically fell into him. He tossed the phone backwards and heard it land on the couch (which was lucky because he really couldn't afford to buy her a new one). Then pulling away from the kiss he asked in a whiny voice "Is it time for bed yet?"

She laughed and nodded, but kissed him again before she started moving. By the time they'd settled into bed she was already asleep. Jack was content to just watch her again. His arm rested around her waist as she faced him. She was trying to keep from sleeping on her bad shoulder and he knew he had to try to keep from touching it by accident. But he couldn't lay there and not touch her, not now that he was allowed to. He needed to know she was still there.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Cal shifted, waking up slowly. It didn't feel like she'd been asleep very long, but looking at the clock would involve a lot of movement and she really didn't want to wake Jack up. Sliding backwards she watched the man's hand fall gently to the mattress and waited to see if he would notice. He continued to sleep, even giving a little half snore.

So Cal was able to sneak off to the bathroom. She tried desperately to stretch her stiff shoulder, but it wouldn't pop like she wanted it to. All she managed to do was break the thick scabs open under the bandage. Trying not to whimper in pain she reached for the medicine cabinet and for a second she just looked at the shelves. The really good stuff was gone now… down the drain. She looked down for a second, as if hoping a pill or two had gotten stuck… nothing was there. With a bit of a sigh she reached for the Tylenol, flinching at the stretching of her shoulder.

"You alright?"

She almost dropped the bottle as she instantly looked over at the man standing in the doorway. "Yeah," she managed to croak out, "Yeah I'm fine…" She was lying and she was too tired to try to hide it.

"What's wrong?"

By the look on his face she knew she looked like shit. And it wasn't just from the shoulder. Was there any use trying to lie again?... Nah. "It was a dream… well… I… It was kinda more like a… flashback? Is that possible?"

Jack smirked. Apparently she was amusing when she was tired and confused. But he shrugged in response to her question.

She stepped over to sit on the toilet and think for a minute. "I mean… I know it happened, but it happened years ago. But I could feel it the same as when it did happen and…" Now she stopped and lifted her hand to watch it shake. She tried to smile and nod to herself but when she looked up at Jack it was apologetically. But she was too tired to focus for a long time on such things. She looked away and finally managed that smile… until Jack got curious.

"Who was in the dream?"

She didn't answer. She didn't want him to know. It was awkward.

"Your father?"

Slowly she shook her head.

He sighed the next guess, "Alex…What did he do?"

"I should have known better," she muttered.

"Cal…" he was about to push her to tell the story, but he either suddenly remembered what time it was or saw how tired his girlfriend looked. He took two big steps and tugged on the strap of her tank top. "It's not even 6 yet. Let's go back to bed alright?"

She stood but then, thinking a moment, asked "Why are you still here?" He never stayed later than quarter of five…

"Because I want to be." He managed to hold her hand without having her flinch, so he began pulling her back to the bedroom. He flopped down before finishing the conversation. "Later, I want to know about your dream."

They settled into much the same position they'd been in before and Jack was soon back to sleep. Cal watched him with heavy eyelids, but she didn't want to go back to sleep. She didn't want to see Alex anymore. She'd had enough of him. Especially the way he'd been in the flashback. God, how many drugs had she been on that night? She couldn't fight, couldn't think, could barely even talk… But she remembered everything and it was an exact flashback she'd dreamt. The smell, the taste, the half-numb feeling… She shuddered, knowing she was about to lose her battle with sleep, and that the dream was going to repeat itself…

………………………………………………………………………………………


	18. 2 Month Troubles

**Disclaimer: yada yada don't own yada yada…**

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in writing, got behind in schoolwork, then had finals, but I'm home now, and for the time being jobless so I'll try to update a little more rapidly now. I already know where the next chapter is going so that should help…**

**This chapter started out as my artistic response to the Virginia Tech massacre, and ended up tying in nicely with an idea I've had for a while but had no beginning for. I love it when things work like that… Anyway, Enjoy! And review, because reviews make me happy, and I will write more if I'm encouraged! ;)**

I looked away  
Then I look back at you  
You try to say  
The things that you can't undo  
If I had my way  
I'd never get over you  
Today's the day  
I pray that we make it through

Make it through the fall  
Make it through it all

And I don't wanna fall to pieces  
I just want to sit and stare at you  
I don't want to talk about it  
And I don't want a conversation  
I just want to cry in front of you  
I don't want to talk about it  
Cuz I'm in Love With you

You're the only one,  
I'd be with till the end  
When I come undone  
You bring me back again  
Back under the stars  
Back into your arms

Wanna know who you are  
Wanna know where to start  
I wanna know what this means

Wanna know how you feel  
Wanna know what is real  
I wanna know everything, everything

From: Fall to Pieces – Avril Lavigne

"March 30th."

Jack's first thought when he heard someone mention the date was the fact that he'd been dating Cal for two months now. But that seemed really short to him. Had it really only been two months?

God, he was such a loser… sitting around band practice thinking about his girlfriend. How sad and stereotypical could he be?!

They guys were all sitting around now. Practice never officially ended, it just kind of faded away after about two hours. Jack stayed to one side of the ratty old couch, hoping Alex was smart enough to stay on the other side of the couch, if not all the way at the other side of the room. Someone had turned on the tv which, being in the garage, only got three channels. All three channels were playing the same three pieces of footage. After a few minutes Jack found himself actually paying attention because there was nothing better to think about. But as he listened, he started leaning forward to pay closer attention. The images on the screen started looking awfully familiar. Then the words flashing at the bottom of the screen sparked his memory, and at the same time caused a sort of panic in him. Someone had been killed on a campus! Cal's campus!

Suddenly he was focused very intently on the fuzzy images. They'd said the victim was male, they'd showed an old picture of him… And no one else had been hurt, just this guy. The "bad guys" had gotten away, but Jack didn't care. He slapped the arm of the guy sitting next to him.

"Let me use your phone man."

The boy was half stoned and confusedly handed over the device. Jack pounded Cal's number into the keypad and tapped his fingers on the side of the couch more violently with each ring that passed without answer. When it finally went over to voicemail he clapped the thing shut angrily before thinking to look down at the time. It was almost time for her to be there anyway. But would she really come pick him up after something like that happened?

Tossing the phone back to its owner, Jack stood up. Even if all he could do was pace the floor it felt better than sitting and doing nothing. But he didn't have to pace long before he caught a glimpse of the comfortingly familiar rust bucket of a car pull up to the curb outside. Snatching up his guitar, Jack tossed it over his shoulder as he tore through the door. She was walking up the lawn… she hadn't come anywhere near Alex in two months. If she was risking that, she was definitely freaking out over what happened at the school.

"You ok Chick?" he called out immediately when he saw her. She nodded her head, but not strongly. It didn't take him long to make it over to her. He gave her a quick kiss because he'd wanted one for reassurance. But that's not what she needed so he let her wrap her arms around his neck and snaked his own arms around her back. There were so many things he wanted to blurt out, most of them questions, but as he felt the poor girl shaking against him he decided that for now silence was the best option. He tightened his hold on her a little and waited a little while longer before pulling back to try to look at her. She was nervy and wouldn't look up at him, but she wouldn't leave his touch either. He finally whispered, "Let's go to my place, ok?" She nodded and obediently got in the passengers seat when he opened the door for her.

Before they'd even pulled away from the curb he could tell she was starting to really freak out again. He reached over and took her hand, bringing the back of it up to his lips for a kiss. "You're alright Chick." She sighed and there was a shudder to it. She was on the verge tears, though she was doing a good job hiding the emotion from her face.

The rest of the short ride was completely silent. Neither of them had even bothered to turn on the radio. They silently got out of the vehicle and Jack stepped back to walk behind his girl. His left hand, holding the car keys, was also pressed gently to the small of her back. He reached over her shoulder to open the door and closed it tightly behind them, never letting her out of his reach. She stepped into the kitchen calmly, but he saw her stumble back a little with a gasp while he was taking his jacket off. Looking up he spied one of his big brothers at the sink.

"Ang, what are you doing here?"

The man kept his glare on the girl as he replied to his brother's question. "I'm on leave for a couple weeks. What are you doin' bringin' girls home while Mom's at work?"

Jack just shrugged and watched Cal pass through the kitchen into the dining room to sit at the table. She chose to face the brothers, but she wasn't really looking at them. Jack opened the fridge, looking for something that might help the situation but Angel was realizing he hadn't quite gotten his point across.

"She can't be here right now Jackie, send her home."

The younger brother shot a glare at the older before moving to a cupboard and pulling out a glass to fill with water.

"I mean it, get her out of here."

"What's your problem man?"

Angel shoved his little brother around so that he'd look at him. "She can't be here right now Jackie."

Realizing what his brother was saying, Jack pulled back a little. "What the fuck did you do Ang?"

"Nothing. None of your business, just get her out of here alright."

"No." He turned to finish filling the glass of water. "She's scared shitless right now, she's not going anywhere."

They both migrated into the dining room. Jack set the glass of water in front of Cal, but she was staring at the tabletop and didn't move. He moved to touch her arm but stopped as his brother, having moved to the side of the table between the couple, commanded, "Hey girly, you gotta go."

"Shut the fuck up Angel," Jack shouted.

"Hey, I'm trying to protect her as much as you are Jackie…"

"You're such a fucking liar."

"How do you figure that? I'm in trouble and I'm sending her away before she gets involved."

"If you were really in that much trouble you'd tell me what was happening so I'd have reason to make her go. Obviously you're not in that much trouble."

Angel was stunned that his little brother was able to read him that well. "Fine, I just don't want her here then."

Jack was about to retort with a "sucks to be you" style comment but Cal, who had buried her face in her arms, beat him with a response he didn't understand.

"I'm not going to tattle on you Angel."

"I don't believe you," the grown black man childishly threw back.

Cal rolled her head to the side in order to look up at her opponent. "Even if I were going to, wouldn't it make more sense to keep me here so you could at least try to intimidate me into not telling?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jack was totally lost.

Still staring down the older brother Cal asked, "Are you telling him, or am I?"

"Neither."

With a smirk the girl then turned to her boyfriend. "Your brother was one of the guys that attacked the kid at the college."

"What!? Ang, what the fuck?"

"Hey, I just went to rough him up a bit. He owed us all some money, and was startin' shit with some of the other guys so they decided to scare him a little. But then he had to go and try to fight back and this one dude pulled a gun…"

Cal had sat back in her chair and shuddered as the scene started replaying in her head.

"Chick…" Jack was exasperatedly trying to piece this all together, "Where do you fit into all this?"

"That kid was in one of my classes. We were assigned a project as a pair and we were sitting at a table in the Commons trying to plan it out when they all showed up." She wasn't looking up again. She was scared by what had happened but for some reason she didn't seem to be afraid to fight with Angel about it.

Suddenly Jack found himself punching his brother across the face.

"Hey, watch it kid," the older man warned, but Jack just glared at him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you. Are you really stupid enough to go to a crowded campus and beat the shit out of someone, IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, and right in front of a bunch of other students? YOU KNOW HER ANG, Why the fuck would you do that to her OR yourself?"

"I didn't recognize her at first," he defended, "And then when I did, I guess I just figured she wasn't hangin' with you any more."

Jack fell into the chair he'd been leaning on. Everything was making sense, but it all pissed him off. He knew now why Cal had been so shaken up. She'd known the kid, been sitting there watching the fight… and she'd known one of the attackers. One of the attackers was her boyfriend's STUPID brother. Angel was freaked out because he didn't want Cal to have the chance to tell the cops about him. But Cal had been right about keeping her here so she couldn't go to the cops on her own.

Before he could manage to say anything Cal got up and tried to walk out. Jack stood up to stop her. Looking up at his brother he finally stated "She's staying."

"Are you seriously choosing a girl over your own brother?" Angel asked, astonished.

At the same time Cal blurted out "Jack, I don't wanna cause any problems."

"You're not going to cause problems Chick," he said, wrapping his arm around her, "And I'm saving your ass Angel, whether you see it that way or not. If she's here she definitely less likely to talk to the cops, although I'm pretty sure she was telling the truth when she told you she wasn't going to say anything anyway."

Still pissed off Angel muttered "whatever man," and stormed out of the room. He made sure to punch the door frame, making a scene in an attempt to make his little brother feel bad about what he was doing. Most days it would have worked too, but with this girl around Jackie-poo put on his best "tough guy" act. He'd probably apologize as soon as the girl was gone, but still… Angel wasn't quite sure he liked the whole situation. The girl seemed like bad news to him.

Little did he know that his techniques of inducing regret, having not worked on his brother, worked quite well on the poor girlfriend who'd been caught in the middle of the situation. She turned to watch apologetically as he left the room, and then stared down at her feet.

"Don't listen to him, he's an ass." Jack went to stroke her arm and she jumped a little. He used to apologize for doing that, but now he was kind of used to it and it didn't faze him as much. It still bothered him, of course, but he wasn't the cause of it and he was sick of apologizing for touching her. He took her hand again and led her through the living room to the front porch. He figured if Angel was home then Sofi was either there or on her way, and knowing their habits Jack wanted to be as far away as possible.

Sitting, he pulled Cal down onto his lap sideways. He was almost cradling her in his arms now and she laughed softly, amused at how quickly he was able to switch gears. He just looked at her for a few seconds before he couldn't take it any more and plunged into a kiss. His hands slipped up her shirt, but he could feel her smile and start to laugh. She grabbed his wrists to stop him and he balled up his fists.

"God, I hate it when you do that." He muttered.

"I don't have time Jack," she regretfully reminded him.

He nodded. "You want me to come with you tonight?"

"It's up to you," she shrugged, focusing more intently on playing with his hair than on the conversation. But she noticed when he was didn't respond. "What are you thinking about?"

He almost smiled, but what he was going to say was depressing enough to kill any happiness he got from her curiosity. "A few things…"

"Like?"

"How my brother almost got you killed today…" She rolled her eyes, and he admitted that it was a bit of an exaggeration, but not much. Then he went on, adding "and how you're father's probably not even going to acknowledge what happened."

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter." He accidentally raised his voice, but calmed down quickly. He was good at that around her.

"I want to work Jack. If I don't work I'm just going to sit around thinking about what happened and I don't want to do that." He was nodding before she even finished her sentence. He opened his mouth to speak but Angel flung open the living room window to frantically talk to his brother.

"Send her home Jackie."

"What the fuck Angel…"

"Jackie, I'm in trouble, send her home."

The younger brother finally understood why there was urgency to the situation. Sighing he stood up, Cal having already started back into the house. She pretty much needed to leave anyway. When they reached her car she finally turned around to say goodbye. He kissed her before she could. It was the kind of unexpected kiss that made her wrap her arms round his neck as she fell against him. He loved that he could have that effect on her. When they parted he whispered "I hate my brother."

She laughed a little. "It's not that big a deal Jack."

"It is! None of that should have happened in front of you at the school today, and it's my brother's fault."

"Well, not entirely…"

"And now you're defending him… you always do that for people."

Stunned she blushed and backed away as she thought about that.

"Sorry," he pulled her closer again and decided to change the subject a little. "I'm gonna try to come by tonight."

She rolled her eyes but nodded.

"You gonna be alright Chick?"

"I'm fine Jack," he very obviously didn't believe her, but she added "I promise."

Finally he let go of her and let her get into the car. Unfortunately he had to admit that his girlfriend would be safer with her abusive father than his brother would be with anyone coming after him. Reluctantly he turned back toward the house, only glancing back over his shoulder once as the girl drove away.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Leaning on the railing of the fire escape Cal took a deep drag from her cigarette. It was Friday night. Jack hadn't shown up the night before, hadn't called, hadn't showed up that night. His girlfriend was hoping he'd show up soon so she could kick his ass. Actually, that's what she'd been hoping the night before… now she was just hoping he hadn't done something stupid like getting himself killed.

Just after she finished this thought for the hundredth time, almost as if on cue, she heard the back doors being yanked on. Wide eyed with curiosity she leaned farther over the railing in a sad attempt to peer around the corner of the alley. As she did, Jack walked around, instantly noticing her. He kept walking forward, his eyes locked on her, but he was sucking on his lip and looking very apologetic. She met his gaze for a while, but couldn't hold it for long. He was about to speak when another voice echoed from around the corner.

"Who the fuck's there?"

Jack darted behind a dumpster and Cal to the shadows close to the building. The girl's father stumbled drunkenly around the corner and looked around for a while until he was satisfied that the potential intruder was gone. The older man disappeared back around the corner, freeing the young people from their separate corners.

"Do I get to come up?"

The girl took another long drag from her cigarette before silently turning and angrily kicking the latch that allowed the ladder to lower. It made a lot of noise clattering to the ground and Jack hesitated before actually climbing up. As soon as his feet touched the grated floor he started his apology.

"I know I'm a dick. I should have called last night and told you I wasn't coming. I got … tied up… Angel needed my help and I forgot all about what I'd said until this morning and Mom had stuff she needed me to take care of…" He shut up long enough to watch her take another drag. Her back was to him as she continued leaning on the railing, so he decided to walk up and trap her between his arms. He also managed to snatch the cigarette from between her fingers and let it hang between his own lips. This pissed the girl off, but not enough to make her turn around to get it back. "Alright," her boyfriend started up again, "So how do I make you forgive me?"

"You don't. You have to wait until I want to forgive you."

But even as she said this she was leaning back against him. He offered her the cigarette back, but she declined. Crushing it against the railing he quickly tossed it over so he could wrap both of his arms around his girl. Unfortunately she hissed a little in pain as he squeezed her ribs.

"Jesus Chick…" He kissed her temple and didn't bother saying any more. She kept her head leaned forward a little, probably anticipating a few angry words or a scolding. When none came she finally slowly, in increments, turned to face Jack. She leaned on the railing again and looked up at him. "I warned you I was going to fuck up."

That made her smile a little. She reached forward to pull him into a kiss. When she let him go he gave a short laugh and said "That was way easier than I thought it was going to be."

She playfully shoved him. "Shut up, I'm still mad at you." But then she tugged at his arm and walked back into the apartment.

Soon enough they were settled on the couch with their backs against one another. They sat like this all the time, usually Cal doing homework and Jack playing with his guitar. Tonight Jack still played but Cal just leaned back and enjoyed it. She messed with her video camera a little, turning it on and setting it on the coffee table facing the couple. This had become part of their routine as well. Jack had complained the first few times trying to argue that what they did wasn't worth taping. She argued otherwise and won because she claimed she could use the footage for class projects.

Jack started playing "The Kill," a song he knew she would sing along to. With each part of the song she sang stronger.

"… …"

Her head leaned back against her boyfriend's shoulder as they solidly finished the song. It didn't take long for Jack to then put aside his guitar and turn to take Cal in his arms.

"I'm still mad at you," she muttered, but she didn't sound very convincing.

"I'm still sorry," he mentioned, "But he's my brother Chick, and we had to take care of things."

"That's why I didn't say anything before"

"Don't…"

"I didn't do anything…"

"Don't make me feel any guiltier."

"I…" she sighed, "Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like that. Just… I was worried…"

"I know, and I'm going to do my best to never let it happen again."

She nodded and snuggled back against him, trying not to cringe as his hold on her tightened.

"What did you do?"

The question made her cringe almost as much as the bruise. "It's nothing Jack."

"I wanna see it." She hesitated, but before she could complain he punctuated his statement with "Please."

Sitting up she pulled her shirt over her head and faced her boyfriend. His calloused fingers played along the ugly red and purple mark but then he made her lie back with a deep kiss. With one hand he reached over to turn off the video camera while the other hand gently stroked her face.

"You can't keep this up Chick."

She rubbed her face with her hands and groaned. "Good God, shut up! It's just a bruise, how do you know I didn't run into the edge of a table or something?"

"Because you would have told me about something like that."

"I'm not leaving."

"I know," Jack sighed in defeat. "But," he perked up a little and pointed at her. "Mom wants you to come over for Easter dinner, and you have no excuse for not coming because Easter is on Sunday and you don't work on Sundays."

Cal could barely suppress a smile as she listened to her boyfriend complete that sentence without taking a breath. Raising an eyebrow she finally responded. "Your mother doesn't want me to come for dinner Jack, she wants to interrogate me to find out what we're doing."

Jack had cheered up considerably and quickly kissed his girl. "Don't worry, she'll blame me for all the bad stuff anyway."

Cal returned the kiss and began fingering the hem of his shirt. "You know, I don't quite think it's fair that I'm shirtless and you're not."

Without a second though Jack ripped off his shirt and leaned back over her. "Better?"

Finally she allowed herself to smile. "Much." Her fingers traced up his body, almost causing his eyes to roll back in his head before he lowered himself to kiss her neck.

He knew it was bad to stop thinking about her problems every time she turned him on, but he couldn't help it… God he loved her…


	19. Easter

Disclaimer- I do not claim Four Brothers, obviously.

Author's Note: HOLY HELL I UPDATED!... It's been, what, almost a year? I'm beg your forgiveness and I hope this chapter is satisfactory even though I'm a little disappointed with it...

I love to look into your big brown eyes  
They talk to me and seem to hypnotize  
They say the things nobody dares to say  
And I'm not about to let you fly away

My lover with no jet lag  
We're staying up all night in my sleeping bag  
You got a heart beatin' rhythm from the subterranean  
I really love you little girl  
I don't need to explain

Ah, like deja vu I feel like I've been here  
Or somewhere else but you've been always near  
It's you that's in my dreams I'm begging for  
But I woke up when someone slammed the door

So hard I fell outta bed  
Screamin' mama's little baby loves shortnin' bread  
And the moral of the story I can testify  
I get stoned on you girl  
That's the best reason why

**From: Deuces are Wild by Aerosmith**

Jack was leaning against the door when Cal finally drove in Sunday afternoon. Before he let her walk through the door he kissed her. She tensed up and he knew she was thinking about being watched. "Relax Chick, she's not that scary."

"Yeah, to you… you live with her, you're use to it."

He smiled but got the girl to come inside. "Did I mention she's not home at the moment?"

Immediately Cal spun around. "What? Really?"

He responded with another kiss and tried to press her up against the wall but she pushed him back.

"Nuh-uh. Nice try, but I'm not talented enough to sweet talk my way out of THAT."

Sighing, Jack kissed her again but then took her hand and led her to the living room. He'd already set up the Playstation he'd borrowed from her so he tapped the power button with his foot as he walked by and plopped down on the floor, pulling his girlfriend down on his lap.

"So what are we playing?"

"Does it matter?"

"Well no, I'll probably kick your ass no matter what," she smiled as the insult hit its mark. Jack shoved her to the floor and snatched up his paddle prepared to prove her wrong.

But after a few rounds of battle the young man gave up, but his girlfriend was still having fun kicking asses. Laying back he let her continue. His eye was caught again by the tattoo on her back. She was wearing a poncho that mostly covered the part of her back left bare by her shirt while she was sitting, but he brushed it away to stare. He had his lips pressed against it a few minutes later when the kitchen door slammed shut.

Immediately he jerked away and shot to his feet. Cal joined, switching off the Playstation and tossing away the paddle. They both strolled into the kitchen to help the older woman with the grocery bags she was lugging inside.

As soon as Evelyn's arms were free she wrapped them around Cal. "I'm so glad you decided to come. I haven't seen you in so long…" she now held the girl at arms length to look her over. "My goodness, you look so grown up." She them mumbled something along the lines of "Who'd have thought my sons would bring home college girls…" and though they weren't supposed to hear, Jack and Cal smiled at each other.

"You need help with dinner Mom?"

"Oh, just a few little things I think. The tossed salad, pasta salad, and maybe the breads."

Jack laughed at the growing list. "So just how many people are gonna show up this year?"

"Jerry and Camille are probably on their way right now with their girl. Of course she won't eat very much and we'll have left-over food for weeks, but what's the fun of celebrating a holiday if you don't get to stuff yourself silly? Right Cal?"

Cal shrugged and nodded… not that she'd ever really had an Easter dinner. But watching the excited Evelyn was making her smile and get into the spirit of things. The old lady was hyper, probably because of the long list of chores to get done running through her head. Feeling a little guilty the younger woman moved up to the counter to help get things ready. Already Evelyn was spreading flour out on her working area, and Cal suddenly remembered to take off her poncho. Wadding it up into a ball she tossed it into Jack's face. He tossed it into a dining room chair and pulled up his sleeves to help too.

"Jack, you do the pasta since you already know how. Cal, we'll let you have the easy job." A cutting board, knife and variety of vegetables were placed in front of the girl.

"Hey, she trusts you with sharp objects! That's a good sign!"

Cal had to bite back a laugh, especially when Evelyn shooed her son to the other side of the kitchen.

"Oh Jack, behave yourself."

"Yes Mom."

"So Cal," The woman's voice had changed tone a little, and when Jack started being really quiet with his work Cal got worried. "You went to church this morning?"

"Yeah, my dad makes me go every Sunday."

"Which church?"

"The catholic one near our place."

"Catholic?"

"Not my choice. Way too many rules for my taste."

"Yes, I thought I remembered you being a bit of a troublemaker."

Cal didn't like where this conversation was headed. She decided not to reply to the comment.

"So I take it you don't confess regularly?"

At this the girl actually laughed. "I haven't been to confession since I was 10 or 11 years old."

"Oh dear… and your father still makes you go with him?"

She nodded. "He's convinced I'll change my mind someday."

"Not likely?" Evelyn judged by the girl's tone.

"Like I said, too many rules."

"Like the one about birth control?"

Jack nearly flipped out. "Jesus Mom she hasn't even been here for an hour yet!"

"You knew I was going to mention it sooner or later Jackie, you should be glad I'm getting it over with so it won't be weighing on your mind all evening."

Cal just continued chopping at a tomato, her face becoming nearly the same color as the vegetable.

"I'm sorry if I seem nosy," Evelyn resorted to her mind-boggling powers of persuasion. "But I was your age once too and I wouldn't want my boy making the same gamble some of my past beaus did. You understand don't you?"

The girl tried to speak but her voice cracked and she was forced to clear her throat first. "Yes," she finally mustered up the courage to say what had to be said. "Yes I understand, but you have nothing to worry about Miss Evelyn, I've been on the pill for years."

"Alright… that's good to know. Jack, watch those noodles, they're about to boil over."

Rolling his eyes the young man turned down the stove. "I swear to God Mom you have the worst case of ADHD I've ever seen."

"I am quite capable of remaining focused on whatever I need to focus on!" She defended herself.

"Then you're really good at PRETENDING you have ADHD."

Cal felt herself start to relax now that the attention was off of her. This evening was either going to be very nerve-racking or very entertaining… at this point it could go either way.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Jerry and Camille showed up around 2:30, the former dragging along his 2 and a half year old daughter while it was all his wife could do to lug her swollen (and overdue) belly up into the house. Evelyn did a lot of swooning over her granddaughter and then her daughter in law before she remembered to introduce Cal.

The married couple both mentioned how good it was to finally meet her face to face before everyone settled in to helping get things ready.

Dinner was uneventful. Everyone was talking and joking. Almost everyone at the table had their turn nearly choking on their food during a laugh.

Afterwards, since Evelyn had forbidden all but her little granddaughter from helping to do the dishes, everyone else moved in to the living room. Since Bobby wasn't around they weren't confined to watching hockey, although even if he had been there Camille might have beaten him into submission and taken control of the tv anyway. She was pregnant and hormonal, the mood swings, while she tried to keep them quiet, were still pretty obvious. She leaned up against Jerry as they flopped onto the couch.

Jack, on the other hand, sank down into the comfy chair in the corner. Cal threatened with a smile to leap on top of him, but chose to gently sit in his lap instead. She adjusted herself until she was practically in a fetal position, and pressed as close to him as she possibly could be. "Ugh, careful, I might puke on you," he said, only half joking. She laughed quietly, and then, when he'd relaxed, she jabbed him in the side with her finger just to torture him. "Ow! What the hell!"

"What?" she played innocent.

"Watch it Chick. Payback's a bitch you know."

Cal covered he mouth in fake-shock at his words. "Jack Mercer, does your mother know you talk like that?"

After sending her a playful glare, he suddenly reached down and started to tickle her.

"AH! Ok, stop... hehe, no Jack seriously, haha stop!" She nearly fell to the floor trying to wriggle away from him, but he caught her, pulled her back up and adjusted her back to the way she wanted to be. She snuggled back against him and got caught up in whatever sappy movie Camille had turned on. It didn't take long for her eyes to get heavy and shut.

The next thing Jack knew his mother was quietly calling for his attention. "Jackie, she might be more comfortable upstairs."

The young man leaned a little to look down at his girlfriends oh-so relaxed face. Wrapping his arms beneath her he scooted forward and then, with a deep breath, managed to both stand and lift her up at the same time.

"Come right back down," his mother warned him.

Slightly embarrassed, he nodded and continued walking quietly up the stairs to put his girl to bed.

She groaned a little as he put her down, and she rolled over to bury her face in his pillow. He couldn't help but kiss the back of her head before he backed out the door and headed downstairs. He didn't want his mother to worry about what they were doing up there all alone... not that she didn't already know what they were doing every other night anyway...

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Cal woke with a start, realizing one: she was in a strange place, and two: it was dark outside. She checked her watch and realized it wasn't all that late, but it was still a little later than she'd planned to stay, and later than she'd told her father she'd be home. She hurried down the stairs and found all the lights out. Only the tv flashed away in the living room, illuminating drowsy face of her boyfriend. She wondered if she could sneak out without bothering him, but as soon as she reached for her jacket she heard him move.

"Hey, you're awake."

She rubbed her face as she turned to face him, "Well, kinda."

"You can stay here," it was almost more of a command than a suggestion.

"No, Jack. Dad's gonna be pissed that I'm still here anyway..."

"So call him and tell him you're spending the night," the young man shrugged. But she was putting on her jacket and ignoring him. Quickly he snatched her car keys out of her hands and tossed them into a dark corner full of stuff.

"Jack, what are you doing!"

But he had already grabbed her cell phone too, and fought her off as he called her father.

"Mr. Tanning? This is Jack Mercer... Yeah, Cal kinda fell asleep, and we figured we'd just let her sleep on the couch and send her home in the morning... Yes sir..." He closed the phone as the old bastard hung up on him. Then he put the phone back in Cal's coat pocket, peeled the jacket off of her and went to hang it back up.

She was still ignoring him however, and began searching for her keys. She heard him sigh when he came back into the room, and then squealed a little in shock as his arm wrapped around her waist. He picked her up like that and, carrying her over to the couch, flopped down with her beside him. He had her locked in place, and kissing the back of her neck he whispered, "Shut up and go to sleep."

After a few moments her body did relax against his, though he was too close to being asleep to notice.

"Jack," she suddenly whispered.

"Hm?" He didn't move, just mumbled.

"I love your family."

At that he gave a small laugh. "Good, 'cause they love you too, and they'll probably start stalking you now."

"So that's where Bobby gets if from huh?"

Another laugh. "Yeah something like that."

"Hey Jack?"

"Yeah.."

"You tired?" She laughed at her own torture methods.

"Shut up and go to sleep, I'd hate to have to kill the woman of my dreams for depriving me of sleep."


End file.
